KING 1 



MA 




Class IU42JH 

Book. " ^ 3 1 

Copyright!! . 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



J 



ORAL READING & 
PUBLIC SPEAKING 



BY 

JOHN R. PELSMA, Ph.M. 

Professor of Public Speaking, Oklahoma A. & M. College 




BOSTON 

RICHARD G. BADGER 

THE GORHAM PRESS 



Copyright, 1918, by John R. Pelsma 



All Rights Reserved 



-f|J# 






Made in the United States of America 



The Gorham Press, Boston, U.S.A., 



PREFACE 

This book is a fundamental treatise covering the whole 
field of oral expression except dramatics. It is intended as a 
text-book for high schools, academies, normal schools, and 
also for elementary college courses. The entire manuscript 
was completed four years ago. Most of it has stood the 
class room test for twelve years. Part I deals with oral 
reading and the technique of expression, Part II treats of 
the various forms of public speaking, and Part III contains 
selections for reading and speaking. The text is complete in 
itself; no supplementary books need be purchased by the 
student. The book will thus prove invaluable to teachers 
who do not have access to a large public speaking library. 

There is a growing conviction on the part of educators 
that in most of the preparatory schools our methods of 
teaching English need revision, and that in all the schools 
the class-work in English needs vitalizing; that since we 
speak hundreds of times where we write once, relatively more 
attention should be given to oral English than has been the 
case in the past two decades. 

In 1913 the Illinois Teachers' Association carried on an 
experiment which proved that classes in English devoting 
an hour a week to oral expression were, at the end of the 
year, not only more proficient in writing English than the 
parallel classes devoting all their time to written composi- 
tion, but at the same time acquired the ability to speak ef- 
fectively before an audience. 

To meet this need the present volume has been prepared. 
It is intended not alone for teachers who are conducting 
separate classes in public speaking, but for all teachers of 
English. When used as a text in connection with the regu- 



viii Preface 

lar class-work in English, all parts of the book would not 
necessarily be used by a single teacher with a particular 
class ; but since the text is a complete treatise, teachers may 
use it for all the work in oral English that should be in- 
corporated in the regular four years of a high school course 
in English. The best results are secured when the technique 
in Part I is assigned simultaneously with the practical speak- 
ing as outlined in Part II. When students make extempore 
speeches they more readily appreciate the value of the drill 
in technique. When the book is used with separate classes 
in oral expression, the whole text would naturally be cov- 
ered in one semester or in a whole year's course. 

The author feels very grateful to the many publishers and 
authors who have so generously given permission to use se- 
lections and quotations from their productions. Special ac- 
knowledgment is due Houghton, Mifflin Co. {Longfellow, 
Whittier, Lowell, Emerson, Holmes, Hay, Coolbrith, Taylor, 
Thaxter) ; Charles Scribners Sons {Lanier, Field, Stevens- 
son, Holland) ; D. Appleton & Co. {Bryant, Halleck) ; P. J. 
Kennedy & Co. {Ryan) ; Whitaker & Ray-Wiggin Co. {Mil- 
ler) ; W. B. Conkley Co. {Wilcox); Mitchell Kennerley 
{Whitman) ; and Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co. {Foss). 

The author also wishes to express his indebtedness to the 
many excellent books on public speaking now on the market ; 
to Professor E. D. Shurter for his valuable criticism ; to 
his worthy instructors, including Professors H. B. Gough of 
DePauw, S. S. Curry, School of Expression, S. H. Clark 
and F. M. Blanchard of Chicago, I. L. Winter of Harvard, 
and Miss G. E. Johnson of Wisconsin ; to his many interest- 
ing students for valuable suggestions, and to his wife for her 
encouragement and assistance. J. R. P. 

Stillwater^ Oklahoma, 
Februarv 1, 1918. 



CONTENTS 

PART ONE— ORAL READING 

PAGE 

Chapter I. Introduction 15 

Definitions — Value of Oral English — Who Needs Oral Eng- 
lish?— How May the Ability to Read and Speak Well Be 
Acquired? — Who Can Become a Good Reader and Speaker? 

Chapter II. Phonology 23 

Definitions — Technique of the Voice — Control of the 
Voice — Breathing — Respiratory Co-ordination — Exercises in 
Breathing and Voice Control. 

Chapter III. Voice Culture 35 

Definitions — Cultivation of the Voice — Vocal Exercises — 
Placing the Voice — Tone Projection — Lisping — Stammering — 
Care of the Voice. 

Chapter IV. Enunciation and Pronunciation .... 46 

Definitions — Table of Elementary English Sounds — Table 
of Vowel Elements — Table of Consonant Elements — Enuncia- 
tion — Pronunciation — Exercises. 

Chapter V. Melody 64 

Definitions — Table of Voice Types — Pitch — Compass — Key 
— Exercises — Inflection — General Law of Inflection — Appli- 
cation of General Law — Faults in Speech Melody — Exercises. 

Chapter VI. Force 90 

Definitions — Loudness— Volume — Intensity — Stress — Exer- 
cises. 

Chapter VII. Movement 106 

Time — Rate — Pause — Transition — Quality — Rhythm — Sug- 
gestions as to Reading Poetry. 

ix 



x Contents 

page: 
Chapter VIII. Emphasis 122 

Ways of Emphasizing — Rules of Emphasis — Climax — 

Cautions — Exercises. 

* 

Chapter IX. Quality 134 

Definitions — Atmosphere — Dominant Voice Qualities — In- 
tellectual, Spiritual, and Vital Voices — Tone-Color — Emotions 
— Word-coloring — Exercises. 

Chapter X. Vocal Interpretation of Literature .... 153 

Definitions — Vocal Interpretation — Classification — Thought 
Analysis — Written Work — Directions and Questions for 
Written Work — Specific Illustrations. 



PART TWO— PUBLIC SPEAKING 

Chapter I. General Observations 167 

Introduction — General Preparation — Special Preparation — 
Writing the Speech — Length of the Speech — Stage-fright — 
Study and Practice. 

Chapter II. Essential Elements — The Audience . . . ' . 184 
General Characteristics — Kinds — Exercises. 

Chapter III. Essential Elements — The Speech .... 193 

Material — Style — Unity — Clearness — Force — Elegance — Ex- 
ercises. 

Chapter IV. Essential Elements — The Speaker .... 209 

Physical Qualities — Mental Qualities — Moral Qualities — 
Styles of Delivery — Power — Exercises. 

Chapter V. Physical Expression 228 

Purpose — Universality — Natural Gestures — Classification of 
Gestures — Mechanics of Gesture — On the Platform — A Clos- 
ing Word — Exercises. 

Chapter VI. Forms of Public Address 248 

The Essay — The Oration— Reproductions — The Popular 
Lecture — Exercises. 



Contents xi 

PAGE 

Chapter VII. Methods of Preparing and Delivering a Speech 260 

Reading a Speech — Speaking Memoriter — Speaking Extem- 
pore — Combined Method — Speaking Impromptu — Exercises. 

Chapter VIII. Extempore Speaking 265 

In Secondary Schools — Can Extempore Speaking be 
Acquired ? — Outline — Exercises. 

Chapter IX. Debating 276 

Introduction — Definitions — Proof — Evidence — Argument — 
Structure — Delivery — Manner of Delivery — Judges — Ethics 
of Debating — Exercises. 



PART THREE 

Selections for Practice 295 

Poetry 299 

Prose 401 

Selections appear in the Index under Title and Author 



PART ONE 
ORAL READING 



ORAL READING AND 
PUBLIC SPEAKING 



CHAPTER I 
INTRODUCTION 

Definitions. Oral English treats of the science and art 
of reading and speaking the English language effectively. 
It formulates the fundamental laws and principles of ex- 
pressing vocally our thoughts and emotions. It may be 
possible to express the thoughts of others, but quite im- 
possible to express emotions not our own. The printed 
page, at best, can record only the ideas and thoughts of the 
writer. What the author felt is purely conjectural on our 
part. Sympathetic experience is our best interpreter. 

Oral English may be divided into two main divisions : 
1. Oral Reading and 2. Public Speaking. 

Oral Reading relates to the verbal reproduction and sym- 
pathetic expression of the ideas and emotions of another. 
The ideas and thoughts of an author can be made our own, 
and these can be reproduced in the exact language of the 
writer or speaker, but the emotions of another can be only 
suggested. A reader can interpret the meaning of the 
printed page and express this meaning to his auditors ; and 
may to a limited extent feel emotions similar to those of 
the writer or speaker, and be able to arouse concordant emo- 
tions in his audience through proper voice modulations and 
appropriate physical expression. 

15 



16 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Public Speaking presupposes an audience, and refers to 
the expression of our own thoughts and emotions. Private 
conversation and public speaking differ only in the number 
of auditors. Effective speaking, whether private or pub- 
lic, must be governed in manner and character by the size 
and nature of the audience. 

Value of Oral English. Ruskin says, "If I could have 
a son or daughter possessed of but one accomplishment in 
life, it should be that of good reading." 

The human race always has had some method of communi- 
cation. At first only inarticulate sounds and simple signs 
were used. Man's expression became more varied as his 
thoughts and emotions became more complex. Mankind has 
profited from many inventions, but from none other so much 
as from the invention of articulate language. There is a 
striking analogy between the development of speech and 
of the general intelligence in the human race and in the in- 
dividual. Vocal expression- preceded by many aeons a writ- 
ten language. The child learns to talk many years before 
he learns to write, and after he has learned to do both, he 
speaks a thousand words to writing one. In actual prac- 
tice, the communication of thought and feeling is, for the 
most part, by word of mouth. 

Literary Value. Poetry and song spring spontaneously 
from the heart. The poem and the lyric, to be appreciated, 
must be recited and sung. "Literature is not in the book. 
She has to do with the living speech of men. Her language 
is that of the lips. Her life is in the song and ballad, the 
story and the oration, the epic and the drama, as they 
sound and are heard of men. We, too, no less than the 
scientist, must get behind the book to that of which the 
book is but the record and notation, the mere tablet of 
memory — to enchanted speech. Where there is no enchant- 
ment there is no literature," says Percival Chubb. Litera- 
ture is life. It must not merely be read but lived. It is 



Introduction 17 

sensuous, and to be appreciated must be heard. Like a bar 
of music, it must be played and sung before its beauty and 
melody can thrill the heart. 

The great literary masterpieces can never be appreciated 
fully without being heard. Manifestly this is true of ora- 
torical literature, which is addressed to a hearer and not 
to a reader ; and it is quite as true of the idealized lan- 
guage of poetry. To Shakespeare, as Professor Corson 
points out in his little book, Tiie Voice and Spiritual Edu- 
cation, "language was for the ear, not the eye. The writ- 
ten word was to him what it was to Socrates, 'the mere 
image or phantom of the living and animated word.' Read- 
ing must supply all the deficiencies of written or printed 
language. How comparatively little is addressed to the 
eye, in print or manuscript, of what has to be addressed 
to the ear of a reader! There are no indications of tone, 
quality of voice, inflection, pitch, time, or any other of the 
vocal functions demanded for a full intellectual and spir- 
itual interpretation. A poem is not truly a poem until it 
is voiced by an accomplished reader who adequately has 
assimilated it — in whom it has to some extent, been born 
again, according to his individual spiritual constitution 
and experience." % 

The art of printing has caused language to be overmuch 
transferred from its true domain, the sense of hearing, to 
the sense of sight. Then, too, the multiplication of books, 
magazines, and newspapers in modern times, has encour- 
aged silent reading. The practice of the olden time, when 
the family gathered together to hear a book read by some 
one of their number, gave the family a unit now largely 
lost. The picture of Longfellow is realized rarely to-day 
when a member of the household is asked to 

. . . read from the treasured volume 

The poem of thy choice, 
And lend to the rhyme of the poet 

The beauty of thy voice. 



18 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

.And the night shall be filled with music, 
And the cares that infest the day 

Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, 
And as silently steal away. 

Emotional Value. From the first year in the primary to 
the last year in the college, the student daily has opportu- 
nities for impression, but few opportunities for expression. 
The child longs to express his ideas, emotions, his images ; 
the adult is "cold and moveless as a stone." It is thought 
that a practical man should not express, but suppress his 
emotions. The result is that he soon learns that he is wholly 
incapacitated to enjoy a beautiful painting, good music, fine 
literature, or a summer sunset. Nature's laws cannot be 
violated with impunity. 

Proper emotions should be developed, cultivated. The 
man who is merely a "thinking machine" is only half a man. 
As we learn to sing by singing, we learn to smile by smil- 
ing. We learn to be happy by making others happy; we 
learn to love by loving. We must express what is within 
us. Who has not been thrilled through and through by a 
beautiful song, by a selection well read? Actors are fre- 
quently moved to tears by the sound of their own voices. 
We must express our iaeas, our thoughts, our ideals, or they 
will suffocate within. Says Professor S. H. Clark, "I be- 
lieve there is no better way to inculcate the love of litera T 
ture than by having the pupil read it aloud. We talk 
glibly of the sonorous rhythm of Milton's verse, but can- 
not quote a line. We talk of the fertile imagination and 
sublime passion of Shakespeare, but how many of us ever 
pick him up for an hour's reading? We talk of the tender- 
ness, of the homeliness of the lyrics of Burns, but never 
read them." 

Cultural Value. Jane Addams says, "The person of the 
highest culture is the one who is able to put himself in the 
place of the greatest number of other persons." Self iden- 



Introduction 19 

tification with the characters in a drama, or the personi- 
fication of the monologue develops the highest instincts and 
the noblest motives in a child. The boy and girl must be 
permitted to live their ideals found in literature. The abil- 
ity to see, feel, and will as our associates ; to appreciate the 
beauties in life through the eyes and ears of the masters, 
is the acme of culture. Beauty and pleasure must be 
shared. No life can develop without expression. 

Professor Edward Dowden, in his New Studies in Lit- 
erature, says, "Few persons now-a-days seem to realise 
how powerful an instrument of culture may be found in 
modern^ intelligent, and sympathetic reading aloud. The 
reciter and the elocutionist of late have done much to rob 
us of this which is one of the finest of the fine arts. A mon- 
grel something which, at least with the inferior adepts, is 
neither good reading nor yet veritable acting, but which 
sets agape the half-educated with the wonder of its airs 
and attitudinizing, its pseudo-heroics and pseudo-pathos, 
has usurped the place of the art of true reading aloud, and 
has made the word 'recitation' a terror to quiet folk who 
are content with intelligence and refinement." 

Social Value. "Education is social efficiency." "No 
man liveth unto himself alone." Our joys magnify many 
fold, when told, our sorrows decrease when poured into a 
sympathetic ear. The ability to converse fluently, agree- 
ably, accurately, with a well modulated voice is the outward 
sign of a cultured mind. The voice is the thermometer of 
the soul. Again, could not a long lonely hour be shortened 
by reading a poem, a story to a sick friend? Why is not 
this done more frequently? We are ashamed of letting 
others know how poorly we read ! 

Educational Value. Not long ago one of the world's 
greatest athletes died at the age of thirty. Large external 
muscles do not insure longevity. Strong internal muscles 
are of greater importance — muscles of respiration and as- 



20 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

similation — muscles of life. A knowledge of their develop- 
ment is of vital interest to every boy and girl. 

Our memory is quickened by using the sense of hearing 
and the kinesthetic sense as well as that of sight. Selec- 
tions read aloud are retained in memory longer than those 
read silently. 

Confidence in your ability to express yourself in good, 
pure, forceful English will encourage you to undertake tasks 
that you would otherwise hesitate in attempting. 

The student who can express well what is within him 
usually stands at the head in every branch in school. 

Vocational Value. Recently a Wall Street business man 
said to a group of college students : "Unless you acquire 
in your college course the ability to write and speak effec- 
tively, it will not be worth the time and money spent upon 
it." Every applicant for a business position must stand 
a satisfactory test in the use of correct oral English. Who 
wants a teacher with a rasping, throaty, shrill, irritating 
voice ; a stammering, hesitating, mumbling clerk ; bashful, 
forceless, lisping salesman; or a weak-voiced, ineffective, 
"throaty" preacher or lawyer? 

Thousands of men and women have put themselves on 
record as saying, "Oh, if I could only make a good speech 
to-day! the occasion is the opportunity of my life." 

The ability to express effectively one's own thoughts and 
to interpret vocally the thoughts of others is an inestimable 
asset in the struggle for supremacy in the economic world. 
To be able to speak to a purpose, clearly, distinctly, grace- 
fully and forcefully is an open sesame to leadership. 

Who Needs Orae English? Only those who expect to 
live a Robinson Crusoe life can afford to omit a knowledge 
of the theory and practice of the art of reading and speak- 
ing. If you expect to communicate with your associates, 
you need a pleasing conversation ; if you intend to convince 



Introduction 21 

them, you need a logical and forceful address ; if you desire 
to persuade them, you need an effective delivery; briefly, 
-if you wish to be a man among men, take the advice of 
Martin Luther, "He who speaks well is a man" 

How May the Ability to Read and Speak Well be 
Acquired? By following the laws and principles of vocal 
expression patiently and intelligently; by persistently prac- 
ticing under competent criticism. Practice alone does not 
make perfect; but practice under criticism. Be your own 
critic to a large degree. Heed well the suggestions made 
by your instructor. Remember that what is worth doing 
at all is worth doing well. One of the Swabodian principles 
of muscular development demands that when you exercise 
or lift a weight you must lift all you can if you desire to 
grow strong physically. Exercise with light weights may 
be sufficient to retain your health, but it will not develop 
your muscle. So it is with reading and speaking. Every 
time you speak or read do your very best; otherwise you 
may hold your own, but you will not become more efficient. 

Who Can Become a Good Reader and Speaker? Every 
person with an ordinary intelligence and a normal physique. 
Perhaps, you should possess a few other qualities. A desire 
— a will — strong enough to overcome your vocal defects if 
you have any; confidence in yourself and faith in your 
purpose in life, and enough perseverance to conquer as oth- 
ers have, who have gone this way before you. 

A friend who lived on a farm adjoining that of Byron 
King relates an incident connected with the latter's early 
life. One day Dr. King came over to borrow a wheelbarrow. 
It took him one-half hour to make known his errand. Dr. 
King inherited about all the vocal defects in the catalog. 
Through the wise teaching of a friend and by persistent 
and heroic effort, he overcame them all. Dr. Byron King 
is now president of the King School of Oratory and a 



22 Oral Readvng and Public Speaking 

reader and speaker of unusual power and eloquence. The 
old story of Demosthenes has had many modern parallels. 
Certainly the masters of the art of speech, both ancient 
and modern, did not become masters without laborious and 
long-continued training. Such training was the lifelong 
work of the Greek and Roman orators. Curran, the cele- 
brated Irish orator, was so handicapped in his youth that 
he was called "stuttering Jack Curran." He said of him- 
self, "My friends despaired of my ever making a speaker, 
but I would not give it up." Says one of his friends, "He 
turned his shrill and stumbling brogue into a flexible, sus- 
tained, and finely modulated voice; his action became free 
and forcible; and he acquired perfect readiness in thinking 
on his legs." With reference both to matter and manner, 
Webster said of himself: "When I was a young man, and 
for several years after I had acquired a respectable degree 
of eminence in my profession, my style was bombastic in 
the extreme. Some kind friend was good enough to point 
out that fact to me, and I determined to correct it, if labor 
could do it. Whether it has been corrected or not, no small 
part of my life has been spent in the attempt." 



CHAPTER II 
PHONOLOGY 

Definitions. Phonology is the science of vocal sound. 
It treats of the physical laws involved in the production of 
sound, and the physiological laws governing all the organs 
of speech. 

Sound is the auditory sensation produced by the vibra- 
tions of air or some other media. These vibrations in the 
media are the result of the vibration of some object. For 
example, a violin string is touched. The string moves to 
and fro causing condensations and rarefactions in the air ; 
these waves set in motion the ear-drum, and it, in turn, com- 
municates these vibrations to the inner ear where very small 
delicate cords are set in sympathetic vibration. This is 
communicated to the brain by the auditory nerve. 

Each string of a violin is said to have a certain pitch. 
Pitch depends on the number of vibrations per second. The 
number of vibrations depends on the length, thickness, and 
tension of the string. The volume, or loudness, of the sound 
depends on the amplitude or distance the string vibrates, 
which in turn is caused by the force of the blow given the 
string. The quality, or character of the sound is dependent 
on the overtones, the texture of the string, and the resonance 
of the frame work of the violin. 

However, the violin is too simple in construction to serve 
as a basis of explanation of the human voice. There is no 
instrument made in exact imitation of the human speech 
apparatus. The single reed-pipe of a church organ is a 
near approach in principle, and serves well as an illustration 
of its general structure. Again, the cornet serves very well 

23 



M 



Oral Reading and Public Speaking 



when the lips are made to represent the vocal cords. 

Before making this comparison, however, it will be neces- 
sary to explain briefly the technique of the voice. 

Technique of the Voice. In order to understand how 
the voice is produced it will be important to sketch briefly 
the anatomy of the vocal apparatus. 



Frontal cavity 



Hard palate 
Soft palate 



Tongue 



'Root" of tongue 
Base of tongue 



Hyoid bone 




Sphenoidal cavity 
Nasal cavities 



Uvula 

Throat chamber 

Larynx 
Vocal cords 
Cricoid cartilage 



Median section of the head and neck, giving general side view of the organs 
of speech and the resonators above the larynx. 

The larynx, the most important organ in voice produc- 
tion, consists of cartilages, muscles, vocal bands, true and 
false mucous membrane, ligaments, etc. It is situated be- 
tween the hyoid bone above and the trachea below. For a 
complete description see any standard text on physiology. 



Phonology -' £5 

With reference to the voice, the most important part of 
the larynx is the vocal bands. They are the chief sound 
producers. The false vocal cords lie above the true cords. 
They fold over the latter in coughing, swallowing, etc. The 
vocal cords are attached to the arytenoid cartilages which 
move freely on their base, swivel-Jike, and the movements and 
tension of the vocal cords are produced by adjustments of 
these cartilages. The hyoid bone is at the top Gf the larynx. 
It has no definite function in sound production except as it 
affords attachment for the muscles of the tongue. 

The glottis is the chink or opening between the true vocal 
cords. 

The tongue is a very important organ in phonation and 
articulation. Its wonderful ability of adjustments in shape 
and position in the mouth cavity determines the greater 
number of modifications of tone resonance. 

The uvula is the small curtain which closes the back of 
the mouth. It and the soft palate determine the direction 
the breath takes when it comes from the pharynx. If 
dropped, the air goes partly through the nose, as in sound- 
ing the letter "m." If raised, very little passes through the 
nose. Snoring is caused by the vibration of this curtain. 

The teeth, hard and soft palates, and the lips modify the 
resonance and aid materially in phonation. 

In comparing the voice to a single reed-pipe of a church 
organ, three general analogies are noted : I. A box or wind- 
chest into which the air is forced by the bellows ; II. A reed 
or vibrator which is the source of the sound; and III. A 
resonator, or resonance chamber, aiding in modifying the 
volume and quality of the sound. 

The air is pumped into the wind-chest of the organ and 
as it meets resistance, it is under considerable pressure. 
The only outlet is through the narrow slit between the edges 
of the vibrator or "reed." The air, in passing between" the 
free edges of the vibrator, causes these edges to oscillate in 
such a manner that they open and close this narrow slit at 



26 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

regular intervals ; thus transmitting to the surrounding air 
a series of sound waves of the same frequency. The air 
chamber or resonator above the "reed," by virtue of its 
resonating property, favors those vibrations that are adap- 
table to the size of the hollow interior. Those vibrations 
that are favored are re-enforced; those that are not, are 
suppressed. Each pipe of the organ is so constructed as to 
favor, or harmonize the vibrations of its own "reed." 

In the human body the lungs act as the wind-chest. Air 
is drawn into them and placed under pressure. It can 
escape only through the narrow slit between two elastic 
tissue membranes — the vocal cords — which form the "reed" 
of our vocal machinery. The free elastic edges of these 
cords vibrate and communicate these waves to the air cham- 
ber above them in the same manner as the "reed" of the 
organ transmits the sound to the resonator. The resonator 
of the voice is the throat, mouth, and nose. 

So far there is a great similarity between the single reed- 
pipe of the organ and the human voice mechanism. Some 
of the differences must now be noted: 1. The vibrator in 
the organ always produces the same vibrations ; the vocal 
cords can be regulated at will to perform the function of 
many organ "reeds." 2. The resonator of the organ is as 
unchangeable as its vibrator. The resonating chamber in 
the human voice is adjustable and with proper care may be 
made to re-enforce, modify and harmonize the sound waves 
of all the minute shades of tones produced by the vocal 
cords, normally ranging through two octaves. 

The human voice may be compared, in effect, to the en- 
tire church organ. Though the range of pitch is not so 
great, the voice is capable of an infinitely greater variety of 
vibrations and character of tone within its limited range. 
It is claimed that Madame Mara, within her range of three 
octaves, could produce 2100 changes of pitch,' which would 
represent a successive change in the length of the vocal 
bands of approximately 1/17000 of an inch. 



Phonology 27 

Control of the Voice. The production and control of 
vocal sound is a very complex process. The ability to co- 
ordinate this complicated apparatus, more delicate than 
any instrument ever manufactured, capable of producing in- 
calculable modulations ; so attuned that it responds auto- 
matically and unconsciously to* our mental perception, — 
demands our utmost care and attention. 

First of all, it must be observed that this complex ma- 
chinery is co-ordinated by the nervous system. Parts are 
under direct control of the will and parts are involuntary. 
This complex machinery must be made to respond to our 
mental percepts, that is, to the ideas we have to be expressed. 
Without a definite, conscious effort this complex mechanism 
must respond to our wishes. Hence, (1) definite mental 
images and proper sound-perceptions develop; (2) the ca- 
pacity and conscious control of the breath; and (3) control 
of the vocal cords, resonance mechanism and other organs 
of articulation; and (4) the harmonious involuntary adjust- 
ment of all these processes. 

Breathing. Voice is vocalized breath. In ordinary 
breathing we inhale and exhale the breath with approximate 
regularity. In reading or speaking, however, we inhale 
quickly and exhale slowly, converting the exhalations into 
vocal sounds. Now, as a fundamental prerequisite in the use 
of the voice, we must learn to perform properly this inhaling 
and exhaling process. How often do we hear people who 
gasp for breath while talking, or who "get out of breath" 
before finishing a clause or sentence. There is lacking either 
sufficient breath-quantity, or breath-control, or both. The 
proper management of the vocal organs requires that the 
voice have due support and control. This involves the ne- 
cessity of deep breathing. 

There are three ways of breathing whereby the chest 
capacity is enlarged and the lungs filled with air: Clavicu- 
lar, or collar-bone breathing; costal, or rib breathing; and 



28 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

diaphragmatic, or abdominal breathing. 

In clavicular breathing, the upper ribs are raised, the 
breastbone is thrust forward, and the shoulders and collar- 
bones are elevated. By this method, only the upper part of 
the lungs is inflated; but the exclusive use of this method 
(which may sometimes be required temporarily by disease 
and permanently by tight lacing), is as bad for the voice as 
it is for the health. In the first place, proper vocal support 
is lacking. The lungs in this kind of breathing can be filled 
only partially, and hence there is not sufficient reserve sup- 
ply of air to produce a sustained tone. Secondly, it pre- 
vents vocal control. As the shoulders and collar-bones are 
forced upward, they press against the vocal organs, causing 
a constriction of the throat; this necessitates an attempt to 
control the breath in the throat, which was never intended 
for such purpose; and this, in turn, causes the breath to 
come in spurts, making the voice trembly, jerky, wheezy, 
or "throaty." It rasps the vocal cords, and often results 
in a huskiness known as "clergyman's sore throat." 

In costal, or rib brea tiling the lower or floating ribs are 
distended sideways, employing the middle portion of the 
lungs in breathing. This method provides a larger cavity 
than does clavicular breathing, and thus makes it possible 
to produce a fuller, rounded, and more sustained tone. It 
should be employed in connection with the lower portion of 
the lungs, or deep breathing. 

In diaphragmatic or abdominal breathing, the diaphragm 
contracts, moves downward, while at the same time the ab- 
dominal muscles expand the lower chest laterally, thus creat- 
ing a large cavity for the air to enter. This is the method of 
breathing that the singer or speaker must adopt. Deep 
breathing is absolutely essential for a strong, pure, resonant, 
sustained tone. It furnishes a reserve supply of air for a 
sustained tone. It allows the throat freedom for proper 
relaxation and control. It permits one to control the voice 
from the diaphragm, and this is frequently necessary, as in 



Phonology 29 

ringing, dynamic utterance. 

Physicians and writers on hygiene have shown, from sta- 
tistics carefully compiled, that comparatively few persons 
breathe correctly; that is, so manipulate the diaphragm 
that the breathing apparatus is used in the way best suited 
to physical development. 

Do you use the lower part of your lungs in breathing? 
If not, you should learn to do so, for the muscles controlling 
respiration are both involuntary and voluntary, that is, we 
can by conscious attention acquire the habit of deep breath- 
ing. In forming this habit, give primary attention to the 
diaphragm, and the rib breathing will take care of itself; 
think of filling the lower part of the lungs. Place the hands 
above the hips, press firmly as you inhale, and you can soon 
discover whether or not you are using the diaphragm in 
breathing. 

Respiratory Co-ordination. The delicate adjustment of 
mental-perception, breath-control, and the voice mechanism, 
must not be overlooked in cultivating a good speaking or 
singing voice. Mental attitude has much to do with this 
adjustment. 

The amount of air which can be forced into the lungs is 
estimated ordinarily as 330 cubic inches. The quantity 
used in quiet respiration is about 30 cubic inches. This is 
called tidal air. The quantity that can be added to this by 
taking a deep breath is about 100 cubic inches. This is 
called complemental air. The quantity that can be expelled 
by a forceful expiration is about 100 cubic inches. This is 
called supplemental air. The quantity that cannot be ex- 
pelled at all is about 100 cubic inches, and is called re- 
served air. 

One very important fact that should always be borne in 
mind is that all reading and speaking should be done with 
at least 200 cubic inches of air in the lungs. This demands 
frequent inhalations while speaking. When shall you take 



SO Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

breath? Whenever you can do so; each time there is a 
rhythmic pause in the thought expressed. Again, the chest 
should always remain expanded. The upper part of your 
chest should never be permitted to sink. As you use the 
lower part of the chest and diaphragm in respiration, there 
is no necessity of any movement in the upper chest region. 
This upper chest should be moved in pantomime only and not 
for the purpose of respiration. It must be used for the pur- 
pose of resonance. It acts like a drum. This chest reso- 
nance is essential to the production of pure, clear, forceful, 
resonant tones. The early collapse of the chest leads gen- 
erally to dropping the sound at the end of phrases and gasp- 
ing for breath at the pauses, two very common defects in 
reading and speaking. 

Get into the habit of breathing through the nose with 
mouth closed when not using the vocal cords. When you 
speak or sing, breathe through your mouth. 

The lungs must perform two functions : breathing ( 1 ) to 
support life, and (2) to produce pure tone. Some have great 
difficulty in harmonizing these. Life breathing goes on con- 
tinually ; it is paramount in importance and the speaker 
must adjust his voice breathing to this. 

The following are some simple- exercises for practice. 
Two cautions in connection with practicing these and other 
exercises that follow farther on should be carefully noted. 
First, do not overdo the exercises. Never strain the lungs 
or the vocal organs to the point of weariness or exhaustion. 
Learn proper relaxation as well as effort ; the proper use 
of the throat, for example, requires relaxation of the muscles, 
quite as much as contraction. And secondly, systematic 
and persistent practice is the thing that counts. Take ten 
minutes, say, twice a day, and practice the breathing and 
vocal exercises, and keep at it until faults are overcome and 
new habits formed. It is the moderate and continued prac- 
tice that counts. You cannot practice in an hour what 
should be distributed through regularly recurring periods 



Phonology 31 

during a week. Without overstraining, then, or without too 
prolonged effort at any time, practice the following breath- 
, ing exercises : 

EXERCISES IN BREATHING AND VOICE CULTURE 

I. Lie on your back on a couch and breathe normally, 
quietly. This may be done in the morning before you get 
up. Your body will then be free from all tight fitting cloth- 
ing. You will discover that you breathe in the middle of the 
body, not near your collar bone. 

II. Now take in just a little more air than is needed. 
Hold it a few seconds and then let go completely. 

III. Take in more air ; hold it a little longer, and again 
relax completely — let go all at once. 

IV. Repeat I, II and III breathing through your mouth. 

V. Sit erect in a chair and make yourself breathe in just 
the same way you did while lying down, repeating II, III, 
and IV. 

VI. Now stand erect and perform II and III. 

This may be difficult at first, especially is it difficult for 
many girls. But intercostal, combined with diaphragmatic 
breathing must be secured, or you may as well give up all 
hopes of ever becoming a reader, a speaker, or a singer. 

VII. Now open your mouth about an inch; keep tongue 
lying flat and with no feeling of weight, between the lower 
teeth, the tip touching the lower front teeth. Now open 
your mouth in the back as well as in the front; open your 
throat as wide as possible ; and while you are doing all this 
take in a good, deep breath, and be sure your waist-band 
seems to tighten. .By placing your hands on your hips you 
may be able to detect this lateral expansion. Now let the 
breath escape slowly, and control the escape by the dia- 
phragm and not by closing the epiglottis. 

VIII. Repeat VII, but as you let the breath escape say, 
"ah," as lightly as you can, and then relax completely. Be 
sure this sound is cut off short — just a little, little tap — not 



32 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

a prolonged ah — ah — ah, When you relax let go com- 
pletely, and your breath will escape normally. It requires 
an effort to inhale, not to exhale. 

IX. Repeat VIII twenty times. You may get dizzy at 
first, but if this exercise is practiced a short time daily you 
will soon become accustomed to the excess of oxygen. 

There are four points that should be carefully observed: 
1. Be sure that your tongue lies perfectly flat, especially 
in the back. £. Be sure that your mouth opens in the back 
as well as in front. Let your jaw drop. This can be detected 
by observing that the lower lip covers the lower front teeth. 
Again, if you will place your finger against the side of your 
face just in front of the ear you will notice a depression 
forming as you open your mouth. 3. When you give the 
sound of "ah" you must know that the breath is checked by 
the diaphragm and not by closing the epiglottis. The breath 
must never be held by any stoppage in the throat. 4. The 
open throat is essential. In the initial stage of the yawn the 
throat opens properly, and the jaw drops down in the cor- 
rect way. This feeling of relaxation should be felt in per- 
forming the above exercises. 

X. Pant like a dog, only be sure your tongue stays at its 
proper place — flat on the floor of the mouth. 

XI. Repeat with one breath, the following line from 
Browning: "Boot, saddle, to horse, and away." Have four 
distinct diaphragmatic impulses. 

XII. Laugh: Ha, ha, ha; ha, ha, ha. Note that you 
breathe naturally with the diaphragm when you laugh, and 
that the quick spurts of air causing the laughing sound are 
controlled by the diaphragm. 

XIII. To make sure that you are vocalizing all your 
breath, use this test : Take a deep breath and at your ordi- 
nary rate read as many lines as you can of the following: 

Collecting, proj ecting, 
Receding and speeding, 
And shocking and rocking, 



Phonology 33 

And darting and partings 
And threading and spreading, 
And whizzing and hissing, 
And dripping and skipping, 
And hitting and splitting, 
And shining and twining, 
And rattling and battling, 
And shaking and quaking, 
And pouring and roaring, 
And waving and raving, 
And tossing and crossing, 
And flowing and going, 
And running and stunning. 
And foaming and roaming, 
And dinning and spinning, 
And dropping and hopping, 
And working and jerking, 
And guggling and struggling, 
And heaving and cleaving, 
And moaning and groaning, 
And glittering and frittering, 
And gathering and feathering, 
And whitening and brightening, 
And quivering and shivering, 
And hurrying and skurrying, 
And thundering and floundering. 

XIV. Practice for pure tone: 

1. f'Yo ho, lads! Yo, ho. yo, ho!" 
The captain calls to all below, 
''Joy, joy to all, for we must go, 
Yo ho, lads ! Yo, ho ! yo, ho !" 

2. O hark, O hear ! how thin and clear, 

And thinner, clearer, farther going! 
O sweet and far from cliff and scar 

The horns of Elfland faintly blowing ! 
Blow, let us hear the purple glens replying: 
Blow, bugle; answer, echoes, dying, dying, dying. 

3. Since to all earthly work an end must come, our words of 
farewell to a fellow-workman should not alone be those of grief 



34 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

that man's common lot has come to him; but of pride and joy that 
his task has been done worthily. Powerful men so weave them- 
selves into their hour that, for the moment, it all but seems the 
world will stop when they depart. Yet, it does not stop or even 
pause. 



CHAPTER III 

VOICE CULTURE 

Definitions. Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of 
tone — I. Pure, and II. Impure. 

I. A Pure tone is one that contains only harmonious 
overtones, and in which all the breath is vocalized. 

II. An Impure tone is one that contains discordant sec- 
ondary vibrations. These secondary vibrations usually 
come from meeting obstructions in the resonating cavities in 
their passage from the vocal cords. 

The Pure tone may be said to be Normal, Oral, Falsetto, 
Orotund, or Pectoral. 

1. The Normal tone is one used in ordinary conversa- 
tion. It has a pure, clear resonance. 

2. The Oral is thin, feeble, — with the center of resonance 
in the forward part of the mouth. 

3. The Falsetto is shrill and clear; it is known as "the 
false voice." It is heard where the voice is said to "break." 
The vocal cords are tightly pressed together at one end, 
permitting only part of their length to vibrate. In a culti- 
vated voice there is no break in passing from the lower to 
the upper register. 

4. The Orotund is clear, smooth, and voluminous, with 
the resonance in the upper chest. 

5. The Pectoral is a deep, hollow, sepulchral tone, with 
,the resonance in the lower part of the chest. 

The Impure tones are: Aspirate, Guttural, and Nasal. 

1. The Aspirate is a breathy, hissing, whispered tone. 

2. The Guttural is harsh, raspy, grating, and often 
throaty. . 

35 



36 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

S. The Nasal is a twanging, head tone with the centre 
of resonance in the nasal cavities. 

Cultivation of the Voice. It may be talking is such 
a common thing that little attention is paid to the control 
and cultivation of the voice for conversational and public 
speaking purposes. 

There are many beautiful women with dazzling complex- 
ions and graceful carriage who when they open their mouths 
to speak destroy the first flattering impression they have 
made by a vulgar quality of voice. Again, there are those 
who, in personal appearance, might be called plain, but who 
have such pleasant and melodious voices that hosts of ad- 
mirers are alwa}^s in waiting to be thrilled to admiration by 
the sound of their pure, distinct, cultured, and agreeable 
accents. 

As an attraction for charming, a sweet, melodious voice is 
invaluable and often outweighs many physical shortcomings. 

The voice is a wonderful instrument, but it must be prop- 
erly used to render its greatest service. By nature, nearly 
all our voices are clear and pure. When we were children 
we breathed naturally, and barring natural impediments, 
spoke with clear, pure, pleasing accent. Modern social cus- 
toms and the stress and strain incident to getting ahead of 
the other fellow is daily occasioning many defective voices. 
Back to nature is the cry of the voice specialist as truly as 
that of the social reformer. 

To control the breath properly, and to co-ordinate men- 
tal images, breath, and resonance, are the two fundamental 
principles in vocal culture. The muscles of the vocal cords 
are so completely involuntary that we never pay any direct 
attention to them. They will deport properly if we establish 
the necessary co-ordination. Remember that the active cen- 
ter of breath control is the diaphragm. You should practice 
the exercises suggested until the mental percepts or emo- 
tions co-ordinate and regulate the amount of breath; open 



Voice Culture 37 

the jaw and throat, and the proper movements of the tongue, 
lips, and soft palate are made to express these percepts or 
emotions ; and you should learn to do this unconscious of 
these vocal adjustments. Correct habits must be formed. 
The earlier the better. You see some object on the ground 
in the distance; you think of picking it up. Immediately 
you take the proper steps, stop when you reach it and stoop 
to pick it up. You are not conscious of these movements. 
You have learned to co-ordinate your mental percepts with 
your muscular organization. In the same way you must 
unconsciously control your speaking apparatus ; so that 
when you have an idea, the diaphragm, vocal cords, jaw, 
tongue, etc., will express your idea without thought as to 
just what part each one performs. The best speaker and 
reader is he who performs his work properly with the least 
expenditure of energy. 

While performing an exercise to correct any defect, center 
your mind upon that part. If you do not speak clearly be- 
cause your teeth are too close together, center your thoughts 
on this opening. In practicing any exercise, do not be 
afraid of over-doing it just a little. A tree that has been 
bent the wrong way for a number of years needs to be bent, 
not straight, but far over in the opposite direction for a 
short time, so that if let entirely alone it will assume a nat- 
ural and erect position. 

Think while you perform the exercise. Doing it listlessly 
and in a half-hearted manner will represent just that much 
loss of time. Constantly watch your speech whenever and 
wherever you speak. To repeat these exercises for a few 
days will not correct a defect that has been growing on you 
for years ; but faithful and patient practice will be rewarded. 

The conscientious and competent teacher will tell you of 
your most prominent defect and suggest what exercises 
should be followed in your particular case. The same rem- 
edy cannot be prescribed in each case, for the defects are 
not all alike. However, proper breath control, the open 



38 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

throat, relaxed condition of the muscles of the throat and 
neck, a loose jaw and a flexible tongue will remedy about all 
the vocal defects that are not due to actual malformations. 
Some of the exercises are mere devices, which, when prop- 
erly used, will aid ; but do not confound them in importance 
with the fundamental law of co-ordination. Learn to breathe 
properly and to relax the muscles of the throat as sug- 
gested in Chapter II. Unless this is observed, no amount 
of facial contortions will ever improve your tone. A good 
singing teacher may be able to aid you greatly in teaching 
you how to breathe properly. 

VOCAL EXERCISES 

I. Lips. Some people never use the lips in articulation. 
Flexibility and control may be cultivated by practicing the 
following exercises: 

I. Open the mouth and bring the lips together quickly 
and firmly ; then compress the breath against lips and cheeks, 
resisting with these muscles finally forcing the lips open. 

£. Pronounce oo with the lips rounded, and projected as 
far as possible. 

3. Pronounce ee, drawing the lips sideways as far as 
possible. 

4. Repeat rapidly : e-ah-oo ; oo-ah-e ; e-oo-ah. 

II. Jaw. A most common fault is that of talking, as we 
say, with the mouth shut. If one does not drop the lower 
jaw enough to let the tone pass freely, the voice is either 
muffled or swallowed. Cultivate the mouth-opening habit. 

1. Relax the lower jaw. Move from side to side and 
forward and back. Repeat while singing ah in a single key. 

2. Drop the back part of the jaw as far as possible and 
repeat, very slowly at first, and gradually faster at each 
repetition, we-wich-wach-walk. 

III. Tongue. In cases where one is really "tongue- 
tied," a surgeon may be needed to clip the small cord at- 



Voice Culture 39 

tached to the lower part of the tongue. But many faults 
of speech arise from the improper use, or lack of use, of this 
organ. A blurred articulation, for example, may come from 
using the middle part of the tongue, instead of the very tip ; 
and failure to let the tongue lie low in the mouth makes one 
"mouth" his words, or obstructs the vocal passage so as to 
produce a nasal tone. 

1. Open the mouth, keeping the tongue flat; then thrust 
the tongue out straight and draw it back as far as possible 
several times. 

2. With the very tip of the tongue touch, in turn, the 
lower teeth, upper teeth, and the roof of the mouth. 

3. Pass the tip of the tongue forward between the teeth, 
and then draw the whole tongue vigorously backward, as if 
trying to swallow it. 

IV. Correcting a Nasal Tone. When the tongue is 
raised behind and the soft palate lowered so as to nearly or 
quite meet it, the breath is directed upward and passes 
chiefly through the nose, producing the nasal tone or twang 
which is a deplorably common fault in America. To correct 
this, attention must be given to two things: (1) Lowering 
the tongue and raising the soft palate, so that there may be 
a free passageway from the pharynx to the front part of 
the mouth; and (2) projecting the tone forward in the 
mouth, — a matter that is referred to under another topic. 

1. With the aid of a mirror look at the back part of the 
mouth. Inhale through the nostrils, with the mouth wide 
open and the tongue still and flat: this will cause the soft 
palate to fall. Now exhale through the mouth, and note the 
rise of the soft palate. 

2. Look in a mirror and with the mouth wide open go 
through the movement of gaping. Practice this until you 
can raise and lower the soft palate at will. 

3. With soft palate raised sing ah and oh in pure, pro- 
jected tone. 

4. With the thumb and fore-finger close the nostrils and 



40 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

repeat "0 precious hours, 9 ' first in normal (nasal) tone, then 
in a pure tone, that is, sending the vocalization wholly 
through the mouth. Repeat with the nostrils open. 

V. The Guttural or Throaty Voice. This arises from a 
constriction of the throat muscles, and the process of cor- 
rection lies in coaxing the muscles gradually in and about 
the throat into a state of relaxation. Take a deep breath, 
open the mouth widely in every way, open the throat by a 
relaxation of all the muscles, and vocalize, in turn, in a 
single breath, each of the open vowel sounds, such as ah, aw, 
oh, oo. Let the sounds float out, without effort at first. 
Think of the voice as coming from the lungs, and not from 
the throat. Note the quality of the tone, as you give these 
vowel sounds, and gradually acquire the habit of opening 
the voice channels so that the sound is free and unobstructed 
— pure. 

VI. The Aspirate, Breathy Voice. When all the air is 
not vocalized, the voice is said to be "breathy." It is often 
due to taking into the lungs too much air before speaking, 
so that it cannot be controlled properly. The remedy lies 
in applying to the vocal cords just enough air to produce 
the given sound. 

1. Inhale deeply. Exhale in saying ah. Apply the air 
very gently to the vocal cords and use as little air as pos- 
sible. 

2. Count from one to ten in a whisper; then in a pure 
vocal tone. 

3. Read the following stanza. Try to read it with one 
expiration. 

At midnight, in his guarded tent, 

The Turk lay dreaming of the hour 
When Greece, her knee in suppliance bent, 

Should tremble at his power. 
In dreams, through camp and court he bore 
The trophies of a conqueror ; 

In dreams, his song of triumph heard; 



Voice Culture 41 

Then wore his monarch's signet-ring; 
Then pressed that monarch's throne — a king; 
As wild his thoughts, and gay of wing, 
As Eden's garden-bird* 

Placing the Voice. — -Among other classifications, vocal 
sounds are distinguished as being head tones or chest tones. 
The head tone, whereby the head is the center of resonance, 
is the ordinary conversational tone, and is expressive of un- 
emotional matter which is addressed to the intellect: hence it 
is sometimes called the intellective voice. In the chest tone, 
the center of resonance is deeper. This type of voice is 
properly employed in the expression of ideas of breadth, 
bigness, grandeur, sublimity, or solemnity. But both the 
head and the chest tones require that the voice be projected 
properly from the resonance chamber; that it be given due 
carrying power; that it neither be swallowed, (the squeezed- 
back voice), nor forced by the position of the tongue and 
mouth cavity to bang against the roof of the mouth (the 
hard, or quacky tone), nor made to rebound because of the 
mouth's being partially closed. 

A successful plan to place the voice properly is to imagine 
it coming from your diaphragm and hitting gently the hard 
palate just back of the front teeth. 

Tone Projection. To make a tone carry well it must 
come from the mouth unobstructed by secondary vibrations 
of the false cords, soft palate, tongue, teeth, etc. It must 
have good support from the diaphragm which sends it out on 
its journey. Imagine it hitting the hard palate just back 
of the front teeth and going right through and coming out 
between your eyes. This will insure the proper face reson- 
ance so essential to the re-enforcement of the tone. 

I. Give the short sound of a (as in flat), first with the 
chest tone, then with the metallic hard tone, then with a 
pure, clear resonant head tone, deflecting the center of 
resonance to the hard palate just behind the front teeth. 



4$ Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

II. Count from one to twenty, prolonging the "n's" and 
feel the vibration of the face, especially at the base of the 
nose. 

III. Repeat ten times with strong projecting force in a 
pure clear ringing tone, observing proper breath control: 
ah, mo, po ; to, po, ee. 

IV. Repeat in the same way: ring, sing, thing, wing; 
bend, end, lend, mend, rend, send, tend, wend. 

V. Prolong with a musical quality and clear resonance 
the repetition of "bells" in the following lines from Poe : 

Hear the mellow wedding bells — 
Golden bells ! 
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells ! 
Through the balmy air of night 
How they ring out their delight 
From the molten-golden notes, 

And all in tune! — 
Oh, from out the sounding cells, 
What a gush of euphony voluminously wells ! 
How it swells ! 
'How it dwells 
On the future ! how it tells 
Of the rapture that impels 
To the swinging and the ringing 
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, 
Bells, bells, bells — 
To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells ! 

Lisping. This is merely the confirmed habit of advancing 
the tip of the tongue too far in articulating the sibilant 
consonants. Care should be exercised with small children 
who exhibit a tendency to lisp. The proper position of the 
tongue required to make the sound s and z should be shown 
them. 

Stammering. This defect is due to lack of control over 
the muscles of articulation, and seldom to any anatomical 
defect. Just as it is necessary to learn to walk, so every- 



Voice Culture 43 

body must learn to speak. It is not a natural gift. Some 
people have never succeeded in co-ordinating the movements 
of the organs of speech. Especially is this lack of control 
obvious when attempting words beginning with fc, p, t, or d, 
and generally when the next sound is a consonant, as, bl, br, 
pr, etc. 

Some children have a tendency to repeat the initial letter 
in their efforts to pronounce the word, — this is called stut- 
tering. This defect usually begins at five years of age or 
earlier, and seldom lasts later than twenty. Sickness, fear, 
embarrassment may be assigned as causes. The principal 
active causes are: 

I. Pressing lips tightly together. 

II. Pressing the lips too tightly against the teeth. 

III. Not opening the glottis so that the air may pass 
through. 

IV. Tension in the lower jaw. 

V. Pressing the tongue too tightly against the teeth or 
palate. 

A young child who begins to stammer should be told to 
speak slowly and thoughtfully, assuring him that he has 
nothing to fear; for embarrassment frequently makes many 
stammer who under normal conditions never show this defect. 
A strong determination to be cured; the exercise of more 
self-control and self-reliance, and a patient, persistent effort 
to speak slowly and to articulate distinctly, will go far to 
remove this defect. When proper articulation is impossible, 
stop. Take a deep breath, and then slowly force out the 
word. Speak in a slow, rhythmic measure; stammerers sel- 
dom have any difficulty in singing. To accompany each 
word with some physical movement is often a great aid. It 
is said that Demosthenes overcame this defect by reciting 
poems while running up hill. 



' 



Care or the Voice. Breathing through the nose should 
be enforced upon children at a very early age. It is of great 



44 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

value to the nose itself and protects the vocal cords. Some 
tribes of the American Indian enforce this rule by tying up 
the babies' mouths while they are not being fed. The child 
should be taught deep breathing and correct phonological 
co-ordination. 

When girls and boys have reached the age when their 
voices undergo a very rapid change, no strain should be 
placed on them by vigorous training, either speaking or 
singing. At the age of seventeen, girls and boys may begin 
rigorous vocal training. 

The bright glare of the sun is fatal to the eye sight. The 
noise of cannon and deafening machinery is not good for the 
delicate ear. Likewise, those who have any regard for the 
voice should not indulge in shouting or screaming themselves 
hoarse, whatever the excitement may be. 

Vocal malformations can often be modified by the sur- 
geon, and the sooner this is done the better; especially such 
as clipping the small membrane under the tongue to correct 
a lack of flexibility of the tongue; clipping of the uvula to 
correct a nasal tone; and the removal of adenoids to in- 
crease the purity of resonance. Catarrh and other nasal 
affections usually can be remedied through nasal vibration 
and the application of salt water to the mucous lining-of the 
nose. Proper diet is an essential factor, also. 

Do not speak in a room where the atmosphere is over- 
heated or vitiated with dust, smoke, and disease germs. A 
cold will destroy a good voice more quickly, perhaps, than 
anything else except smoking and alcoholic drinks. 

Use a medium tone when you are obliged to speak for a 
long time. Trying to make yourself heard above the noise 
of the street or train has a tendency to coarsen the delicate 
tones of the speaking voice. A speaker should exercise great 
care not to expose himself to damp or cold air immediately 
after exercising his voice. The neck should never be muffled. 

If the sympathetic nervous system suppresses the free 
flow of saliva when you first begin to speak, and your tongue 



Voice Culture 45 

clings to the roof of your mouth, just a sip of water may 
effect temporary relief; but do not get into the habit of 
drinking when on the platform. Unless you are very much 
excited the saliva may be made to fltfw by chewing a bit of 
paper before you begin to speak. 

It is never too late to cultivate a good speaking voice. If 
your voice be of a shrill, rasping, thick, nasal, high-pitched, 
or of indistinct quality, you can accomplish a -wonderful 
change if you set about the task with the characteristic de- 
termination which a desire to be attractive incites. The 
voices of the American girl and boy are noted for being un- 
pleasant in quality. The nervous temperament that is 
characteristically American has a great deal to do with the 
tense, strident tones that are heard so frequently. Climate 
is sometimes indirectly the cause of an unpleasant voice. 
But, on the whole, we must confess that we alone are at fault 
for our vocal shortcomings and should immediately set about 
developing a good voice and refrain from doing those things 
destructive to its highest possible development. 



CHAPTER IV 
ENUNCIATION AND PRONUNCIATION 

Definitions. The exact meaning of the terms enuncia- 
tion and articulation are not agreed upon by phonologists. 
Articulation comes from the Latin articular e (to join to- 
gether) and usually refers to the position the vocal organs 
assume in speaking; also to the joining together of the ele- 
mentary sounds, especially consonants, into syllables and 
words. 

Enunciation is a more general term and refers to the dis- 
tinct utterance of all elementary sounds, especially the vowel 
sounds. 

The words enunciation and articulation are generally used 
synonymously. 

Pronunciation deals with the correct utterance of the ele- 
mentary sounds, with the proper accent and the syllabifica- 
tion of a word. 

Elementary Sounds. Ordinarily the elementary sounds 
are divided into vowel (voco, to call) and consonant (con- 
sonant, sounding with). 

The vowel sounds are made by an uninterrupted flow of 
the tone. The consonant sounds are obstructed and modi- 
fied by the articulatory organs. 

Again, the elementary sounds used in pronunciation may 
be divided into* I. Tonics or Vocals, II. Subtonics or Sub- 
vocals, and III. Atonies, or Aspirates. 

Tonics are unobstructed tones. Vowels and diphthongs 
belong to this class. 

Subtonics are tones modified by the articulatory organs. 

Atonies are without tone, or are mere breath modified by 

46 



Enunciation and Pronunciation 



47 



the articulatory organs. 

As to formation, consonant sounds may be divided into : 

I. Labials, formed chiefly by the lips. 

II. Linguals, formed chiefly by the* tongue. 

III. Palatals, formed chiefly by the soft palate. 

IV. Nasals, made by the free escape of vocalized breath 
through the nostrils. 

I. TABLE OF ELEMENTARY ENGLISH SOUNDS 



Tonics 


Subtonics 


Atonies 


Single v.owel sounds 


Labials 


a (short) at 


B 


ban 






P 


pin 


a (before r) fare 


M 


(nasal) 


man 




F 


fit 


a (long Italian) are 


V 


vote 






Wh why 


a (short Italian) ask 


W 


will 










a (broad Italian) all 














e" (long) because 












e (short) end 








Linguals 




e" (like a) there 














I (short) It 


R 


rate 






T 


tin 


(short) n5t 


L 


long 






Ch 


church 


ii (short) but 


D 


do 






S 


sin 


oo (long) moon 


N 


(nasal) nut 




Th 


thin 


oo (short) wood 


J 
Z 


just 
zinc 






Sh 


shun 


Compound sounds, or 


Th 


this 










diphthongs 


Zh 


vision 










a (long) made 














e (long) eve 
I (long) Ice 


Palatals 


o (long) sole 














u. (long) mute 


G 


go 






K 


king 


ou as in round 


Ng 


(nasal) 


song 




H 


how 


oi as in noise 


Y 


yes 






Q 


queen 



a (6) what 
6 (a) orb 
e (a) eight 



I (e) police 
i (e) bird 
o (oo) do 



o (do) wolf 
6 (ii) son 
U (oo) rude 



u (66) full 

y (i) fly 

y (I) hymn 

y (e) myrtle 



48 



Oral Reading and Public Speaking 



II. TABLE OF VOWEL ELEMENTS 

Position and Shape of Tongue 



, 


Front 


Middle 


Back 


High 


g bs- 


g end 


60 moon 


High and wide 


I It 




06 wood 


Glide 


e = e-I eve 


a = e-i ate 


u = I-6o mute 


Medium 




ah (natural) 


u but 


Glide 






o=u-oo old 


Low 




a ask 


6 6n 


Low and wide 


a at 


a arm 


a all 


Glide 




I = a-I Ice 


ou = a-60 house 


Glide 






oi = a-I voice 



III. TABLE OF CONSONANT ELEMENTS 



Place of Articulation 



Oral 



Momen- 
tary 



Surd Sonant 



Contin- 
uous 



Surd Sonant 



Nasal 



Contin- 
uous 



Sonant 



Lips 

Lip and teeth 

Tongue and teeth 

Tongue and hard palate (forward) . . . 

Tongue and hard palate (back) 

Tongue, hard palate, and soft palate. 

Tongue and soft palate 

Various places 



t 
ch 

k 
h 



f 

th(in) 
s 
sh 



th(y) 
z; r 
zh; r 

y;i 



ng 



Tables II. and III. These tables show the position and 
shape of the tongue in forming the elementary English 
sounds. There are nine positions of the tongue, — the front, 
the middle, and back ; also high, medium, and low. In giving 
the sound of "e" in because, the front or tip of the tongue ap- 
proaches the hard palate. In the sound "1" in it, it has the 
same position but it broadens out. In the mixed sound of 
"e" in eve, it glides from "e" to "i." The sound of "ah" is 
called natural because the tongue lies in a natural, restful 
position in the mouth, It is a sound common to all lan- 
guages ; and is one of the first sounds the baby makes — ■ 



Enunciation and Pronunciation 49 

mama, papa, etc. 

In all the sounds modified by raising the back of the 
tongue, the lips are rounded. The lips should not be moved 
in making the other sounds. 

Enunciation. Clear-cut enunciation is the basis of all 
effective oral expression, for it is obvious that a reader must 
first of all be heard. And to be heard, the elementary sounds 
that make up our language must be brought out clearly. 
Mere loudness is insufficient, for in nine cases out of ten, 
when a speaker cannot be heard, it is due, not to weakness 
of voice, but to weakness of articulation. Attention has been 
called previously to the need of cultivating the mouth-open- 
ing habit. Besides this, we need an active and precise use of 
the articulatory organs. We get into slovenly habits of 
speech. We cramp the throat muscles and swallow the 
sound. We mumble. We talk through the nose. We roll 
the tongue about in the act of speaking — "flannel-mouthed." 
We close the jaw and talk through the teeth. We close the 
lips and sputter. "In just articulation," says Gilbert Aus- 
tin, "the words are not hurried over, nor precipitated syl- 
lable over syllable ; nor, as it were, melted together into a 
mass of confusion ; they are neither abridged nor prolonged, 
nor swallowed nor forced, nor shot from the mouth ; they are 
not trailed nor drawled, nor let slip out carelessly, so as to 
drop unfinished. They are delivered from the lips as beau- 
tiful coins newly issued from the mint, deeply and accurately 
impressed, perfectly finished." 

Now, good articulation involves the three processes of (1) 
sounding distinctly the consonants, (2) separating the sylla- 
bles, and (3) separating the words. 

And first, one must attain power over the consonants. 
Some one has said, "Take care of the consonants, and the 
vowels will take care of themselves." The common trouble 
is, not lack of power over the consonants, but a lack of the 
exercise of such power. Aside from such real impediments 



50 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

in speech that may need the aid of a surgeon, any one can, 
by sufficient attention and practice, learn to speak or read 
clearly, and at the same time naturally. If you lisp, giving 
the th sound for s, you must learn to get control of the tip of 
the tongue, in giving the s sound. If you close the jaw and 
whistle the s's, or do not close the lips in sounding b, p, v, or 
fail to bring out distinctly the initial or final consonants in 
a word, — whenever any special trouble in articulation is dis- 
covered, practice this until the fault is corrected. A little 
attention to this matter of sounding the consonants will 
show the number and variety of muscular movements, in and 
about the mouth, required for the proper enunciation of a 
word like civilization. In enunciating such a word as this, 
the common fault is lack of time-taking for bringing out the 
syllables distinctly. 

In articulation, then, primary attention must be directed 
to the syllabication, rather than to the word as a whole. 
Many syllables are composed of several elementary sounds, 
although they may strike the ear as a single sound. The 
word man has three and strands has seven elementary sounds 
(elements), and proper articulation requires that each of 
these sounds be brought out distinctly. Do not say jog- 
raphy for geography, artic for arctic, Amerka for Amer- 
ica, acrost for across, genelmun for gentleman, etc. 

Again, the words should be clearly separated. Careless 
readers and speakers are apt to give phrases or sentences as 
a single word; "Light and dark" is given as lighten dark; 
"that will do," as that'll doo; "Don't you" as don chew; 
and "what are you going to do" as whachegondo. Such 
slovenly articulation is astonishingly common, and, as has 
been said, it stands in the way of securing the primary 
requisite of effective utterance, that of being understood. 
In those rare cases where a child has been trained to articu- 
late clearly, each word coming out clear-cut, like a coin 
fresh from the mint, how easily is he understood, and with 
what pleasure he is heard ! 



Enunciation and Pronunciation 51 

In practice for overcoming faults of articulation, as in 
overcoming any fault, it is well to overdo at first. In the 
exercises that follow, therefore, be over*precise, if you please, 
so that you bring out clearly every elementary sound. (The 
elementary sounds in our language have been estimated as 
forty-four in number.) 

Pronunciation. While Enunciation refers to distinct- 
ness in speech, Pronunciation refers to correctness. Cor- 
rectness in speech generally is a recognized mark of culture. 
A person often is judged by his pronunciation: his speech 
either commends or betrays him. Since pronunciation is a 
matter of custom, uniform correctness is rarely attained by 
any individual, and yet wide departures from the prevailing 
usage grate upon the ear, just as misspelled words disturb 
the eye, and we variously characterize one's pronunciation 
as "pedantic," "peculiar," "provincial," or "bad." These 
adjectives represent the two extremes of faulty pronuncia- 
tion: the careless and provincial on the one hand, and the 
unusual and precise on the other. He who pronounces for 
as fur, since as sence, window as winder, now as naow, catch 
as ketch, from as frum, and so on, represents the provincial 
class that usually has the further faults of slovenly articu- 
lation and bad grammar. On the other hand, we have the 
over-precise, affectedly cultured class — not infrequently 
represented by the country school teacher — that pronounces 
neither as mther, pretty as pretty, nature as natyoor, laugh 
as lawf, and so on. But while an over-precise and pedantic 
pronunciation is a common fault, carelessness and incor- 
rectness are far more common. 

The test of good pronunciation is the common practice 
of the best speakers. True, this test is not always easy of 
application, but with the aid of a modem dictionary, the 
best usage can be discovered and acquired. As was remarked 
above, pronunciation is a matter of custom ; it is a matter of 
having uniformity for the sake of convenience. While we 



52 



Oral Reading and Public Speaking 



have in America no one locality that can properly assume 
to set the standard of correct English pronunciation, we 
have, after all, a generally recognized standard of speech; 
and the main point is, our pronunciation should not reveal 
an ignorance of this standard, especially with respect to 
words in common use. 

Exercises. Table I gives the elementary sounds. Tables 
II and III show the relative position of the articulating 
organs in the enunciation of each sound. These tables, 
especially Table II, will enable the pupil who has not a 
"good ear" for sound to depend on the "feel" of the tongue 
to aid him in securing a correct enunciation. 

Practice on these elementary sounds until the vocal or- 
gans assume the proper and natural positions unconsciously. 
Some students need much practice on certain difficult sounds. 

LIST OF WORDS FOR PRACTICE 







Long Italian a 




calm 


heart 


aunt 


laugh 


lava 


palm 


father 


half 


launch 


haunt 


balm 


spar 


almond 


laundry 


flaunt 


psalm 


car 


gape 
Short Italiai 


guard 
n a 


daunt 


ask 


grasp 


sofa 


bath 


command 


pass 


slant 


botany 


class 


America 


grass 


after 


idea 


basket 


master 


cast 


pastor 


fast 

Short a 


dance 


advance 


at 


add 


man 


pan 


bade 


cat 


fat 


ran 


can 


sad 


back 


an 


rat 


cash 


bang 


am 


and 


tan 


nap 


bank 



Enunciation and Pronunciation 







Coalescent 


e 




her 


were 


serge 


earn, 


earth 


fern 


verse 


learn 


germ 


girl 


sir 


perch 


verge 


churn 


mirth 


first 


dirty 


bird 

Long u 


pearl 


certain 


due 


new 


Tuesday 


dispute 


illume 


tune 


tube 


institute 


music 


pure 


suit 


tutor 


pursue 


student 


human 


iute 


duty 


tumult 


excuse 


use 



Final Combination's 

Bring out very clearly — overdoing it — the final sounds 
in the following words : 



bold 

regaled 

gulf 

wolf 

silk 

bulk 

helm 

film 

help 

gulp 

tells 

gains 

runs 

streams 

climes 



halls 

fault 

melt 

delve 

revolve 

claimed 

blamed 

land 

hand 

bank 

link 

dance 

hence 

want 

paint 



chasm 

schism 

clasp 

grasp 

vast 

lest 

fact 

reject 

open 

weapon 

taken 

waken 

brighten 

able 

double 



ample 

topple 

troubled 

doubled 

cradled 

saddled 

canst 

midst 

didst 

against 

wouldest 

children 

surpassest 

standeth 

rounded 



Syllabification 

Bring out clearly, and separate distinctly, the syllables 
in the following words : 



54 



Oral Reading and Public Speaking 



abominably 

absolutely 

accessory 

accurately 

adequately 

angularly 

apocalyptic 

appropriateness 

authoritatively 

antipathy 

articulately 

atmospherical 

chronological 

circumlocution 

citizenship 

colloquially 



congratulatory 

constitutionality 

deterioration 

disinterestedly 

disingenuousness 

generally 

hospitable 

idiosyncrasy 

incalculably 

incommensurability 

incomparably 

immediately 

indisputable 

indissolubly 

inexplicable 

institution 



inviolability 

irrefragability 

justifiableness 

lugubrious 

momentarily 

monocotyledonous 

multiplication 

mythological 

necessarily 

pacificatory 

substantiate 

susceptibility 

superiority 

temporarily 

miintelligibility 

valedictorian 



Difficult Combinations 



Articulate clearly the following, with over-precision, if 
you please, only aim for absolute distinctness : 

1. Reading and writing are arts of striking importance. 
£. Make clean our hearts. 
3. A big black bug hit a big black bear. 
Bring a bit of buttered brown bread. 



Bring me some ice, not some mice. 

Some shun sunshine, but why should you shun sun- 



4. 
5. 
6. 

shine ? 

7. Accomplished speakers display aptitude in properly 
applying the principles of aspiration and inspiration. 

8. Goodness centers in the heart. 

9. He saw six slim, sleek, slender saplings. 

10. Henry Hingham has hung his harp on the hook 
where he hithereto hung his hope. 

11. Jasper, the jolly juror, justly joked John, the 
journalist. 

1 2. Nine neutral nations negotiated numerous nuptials. 



Enunciation and Pronunciation 55 

13. Obstructionists and oppressors often opposed these 
operations. 

14. Querulous quips were quoted* by quiet Queenie 
Quelp. 

15. She sells sea-shells; should he sell sea-shells? 

16. They fell like leaves and fill long lists. 

17. Milestones mark the march of time. 

18. Willow wands waved weirdly in wild wintry winds. 

19. Flags fluttered fretfully from foreign fortifications 
and fleets. 

20. Our forefathers fought fearlessly for freedom. 

21. Opportunities for benefitting the unfortunate and 
comforting the afflicted are offered often to affluence. 

22. Rejoice with them, though then and there they and 
theirs will be greater than thee and thine. 

23. To-morrow try to talk truly and truthfully. 

24. Breathe with care, do not mouth thy words. 

25. Both were loath to travel the length of the sixth 
path to reach the fourth booth. 

26. Seated on shore, she sees ships with shining sails 
on the shimmering sea. 

27. The chief cheerfully chose the choicest chair. 

28. I did not say, wig, heart, ear, hair, and all, but 
whig, art, hear, air, and hall. 

29. Richard chanted in church like a cherub. 

30. The yarns of the ubiquitous Yankee used to be 
humorous, yet you yawned. 

31. Dora, defending sound doctrines, discomfited the 
disputants. 

32. No man need know need in this new nation. 

33. Kittens cunningly crept across the cotton coverlet. 

34. Little likeliness, laughed the low lawyer, that legi- 
bility and liability are linked indissolubry, 

35. He spoke reasonably, philosophically, disinterest- 
edly, and yet particularly, of the unceremoniousness of their 
communic ability, and peremptorily, authoritatively, unhesi- 



56^ Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

tatingly, declared it to be wholly inexplicable. 

36. Taciturn and talkative pupils are troublesome to 
teachers. 

37. The pink flowers grew rank on the dank bank near 
the river's brink. 

38. Rude, rocky, rural roads run round rocky ranges. 

39. Round the rough and rugged rocks the ragged ras- 
cals rudely ran. 

40. A lily lying all alone along the lane. 

41. Pillercatter, tappekiller, kitterpaller, patterkiller, 
caterpillar. • 

4£. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a 
woodchuck would chuck wood? 

43. Peter Prangle, the prickly, prangly pear picker 
picked three pecks of prickly, prangly pears from the 
prickly, prangly pear trees on the pleasant prairies. 

44. 

The Cataract strong then plunges along, 
Striking and raging as if a war waging, 
Rising and leaping, sinking and creeping, 
Showering and springing, flying and flinging, 

Writhing and ringing. 
Recoiling, turmoiling and toiling and boiling, 
And gleaming and streaming and steaming and beaming, 
And rushing and flushing and brushing and gushing, 
And flapping and rapping and clapping and slapping, 
And curling and whirling and purling and twirling, 
And thumping and plumping and bumping and jumping, 
And dashing and flashing and splashing and clashing; 
And so never ending but always descending, 
Sounds and motions for ever and ever are blending, 
All at once and all o'er, with a mighty uproar, 
And this way the water comes down at Lodore. 

— Robert Southey. 

The foregoing exercises are intended to bring out an extra 
effort for precision. But in reading there is such a thing 
as overpreciseness, — the "prunes, prisms, and potatoes" ar- 



Enunciation and Pronunciation 57 

ticulation sometimes affected by the country school teacher. 
In good reading one should never call attention to the 
articulation as such, but he should, nevertheless, be dis- 
tinct. Without overpreciseness, now, but at the same time 
with clear articulation, read the following: 

1. Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, 
trippingly on the tongue. But if you mouth it, as many of your 
players do, I had as lief the town crier spake my lines. — Shake- 
speare. 

2. Nature has proved that the great silent Samuel shall not 
be silent too long. — Carlyle. 

3. From the dark portals of the Star Chamber, and in the 
stern text of the Acts of Uniformity, the pilgrims received a com- 
mission more important than any that ever bore the royal seal. — 
Everett. 

4. When_thou wast young, thou girdedst thyself, and walkedst 
whither thou wouldest; but when thou shalt be old, thou shalt 
stretch forth thy hands, and another shall gird thee, and carry 
thee whither thou wouldest not. — St. John, xxi, 18. 

5. Break, break, break, 

At the foot of thy crags, O sea ! 
But the tender grace of a day that is dead 
Will never come back to me. — Tennyson. 

6. The splendor falls on castle walls, 

And snowy summits old in story; 
The long light shakes across the lakes, 
And the wild cataract leaps in glory. 

— Tennyson. 

7. And the Gileadites took the passages of Jordan before the 
Ephraimites : and it was so, that when those Ephraimites which 
were escaped said, Let me go over; that the men of Gilead said 
unto him, Art thou an Ephraimite? If he said, Nay; then said 
they unto him, Say now Shibboleth; and he said Sibboleth: for 
he could not frame to pronounce it right. Then they took him 
and slew him at the passages of the Jordan : and there fell at that 
time of the Ephraimites forty and two thousand. — Judges, 
xii, 5, 6. 



58 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

8. When I consider how my light is spent 

Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide, 
And that one talent which is death to hide 
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent 
To serve therewith my Maker, and present 
My true account, lest he returning chide,— 
Doth God exact day-labour, light denied? 
I fondly ask; — But patience, to prevent 
That murmur, soon replies; God doth not need 
Either man's work, or His own gifts: who best 
Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best: His state 
Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed 
And post o'er land and ocean without rest: — 
They also serve who only stand and wait. 

On His Blindness. Milton. 

9- To an American visiting Europe, the long voyage he has to 
make is an excellent preparative. From the moment you lose 
sight of the land you have left, all is vacancy until you step on 
the opposite shore, and are launched at once into the bustle and 
novelties of another world. 

Sketch Book. Irving. 

10. - Look how the floor of heaven 

Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold: 
There's not the smallest orb, which thou behold'st, 
But in his motion like an angel sings, 
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim, — 
Such harmony is in immortal souls; 
But whilst this muddy vesture of decay 
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it. 
Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare. 

11. Once more: speak clearly, if you speak at all; 
Carve every word before you let it fall; 
Don't, like a lecturer or dramatic star, 

Try overhard to roll the British R; 
Do put your accents in the proper spot; 
Don't — let me beg you — don't say "How?" for "What?" 
And when you stick on conversation's burrs, 
Don't strew the pathway with those dreadful urs. 
Urania. O. W. Holmes. 

Pronounce the following words ; note carefully the exact 
vowel and consonant sounds : 



Enunciation and Pronunciation 



59 



abdomen 


address 


alternate , 


asphalt 


abject 


adept 


amenable 


associate 


abstemious 


adieu 


aniline 


athlete 


accept 


advertisement 


antarctic 


attorney 


acclimate 


again 


apparatus 


auxiliary 


accurate 


aggrandizement apparent 


awry 


across 


ailment 


applicable 


bade 


acumen 


albumen 


aquiline 


balm 


adamantine 


allied 


Arab 


banquet 


adult 


allopathist 


area 


bayonet 


because 


bounteous 


candelabrum 


chasten 


been 


bouquet 


canine 


chastisement 


believe 


bravado 


canyon 


Chicago 


betroth 


brigand 


carmine 


clangor 


bicycle 


bronchitis 


catch 


clapboard 


bijou 


bulwark 


cayenne 


clearly 


biography 


buoy 


cello 


clematis 


bitumen 


burlesque 


cerement 


clique 


blackguard 


calisthenics 


chalybeate 


coadjutor 


blouse 


calm 


chasm 


cognomen 


column 


contents 


creek 


depot 


combatant 


contrary 


Daniel 


designate 


commandant 


contumely 


daguerreotyp 


e desperado 


comment 


conversant 


data 


despicable 


communist 


corps 


decade 


desuetude 


compeer 


coterie 


deaf 


detail 


composite 


courier 


decadence 


dictionary 


condolence 


courtesy 


defalcate 


direct 


consummate 


coyote 


deficit 


disciplinary 


contemplate 


cow 


demoniacal 


discourse 


disputant 


egregious 


equitable 


exquisite 


divan 


education 


escapade 


extant 


docile 


elongate 


every 


eyrie 


dog 


encore 


examine 


facade 



60 



Oral Reading and Public Speaking 



dolorous 


enervate 


excess 


facet 


domain 


England 


exemplary 


factory 


doth 


English 


exigencies 


faucet 


due 


enquiry 


exist 


February 


duke 


envelope 


exploit 


fecund 


duty 


epoch 


exponent 


feline 


feminine 


finance 


forehead 


gentlemen 


ferocity 


financier 


fungi 


genuine 


fertile 


flageolet 


gape 


gibbet 


fetish 


forensic 


gather 


gigantic 


fiasco 


fragmentary 


generic 


God 


fidelity 


frontier 


genial 


gondola 


government 


hiccough 


hover 


implacable 


granary 


hideous 


humble 


importune 


gratis 


history 


humor 


incentive 


grimace 


homage 


hygiene 


incomparable 


grovel 


homeopathic 


hypocrisy 


indefatigable 


gymnasium 


horizon 


idea 


indisputably 


harass 


hospitable 


Illinois 


indissoluble 


hearth 


hostage 


illustrate 


inexplicable 


height 


hostile 


imbecile 


inquiries 


heinous 


hovel 


impious 


integral 


interested 


jocose 


languor 


lineament 


interesting 


jocund 


larynx 


listen 


interpolate 


jugular 


laugh 


literature 


intrinsic 


just 


launch 


lithography 


inveigle 


juvenile 


learned 


livelong 


iodine 


kept 


legend 


Lodi 


irrefragable 


kiln 


lenient 


lower 


Italian 


kinetics 


lettuce 


lozenge 


Iowa 


laboratory 


legate 


lugubrious 


jaunty 


lamentable 


licorice 


lyceum 


magazine 


molecule 


nephew 


now 


manufactory 


municipal 


nepotism 


oasis 



Enunciation and Pronunciation 



61 



maritime 


museum 


neuralgia 


oaths 


matinee 


mustache 


new 


oath 


mediocre 


nape 


New Orleans 


obesity 


memory 


nascent 


niche 


object 


mineralogy 


national 


nicotine 


objurgatory 


mischievous 


nature 


nomenclature 


obligatory 


misconstrue 


nauseate 


nothing 


oblique 


mobile 


necessarily 


none 


occult 


odor 


ornate 


peremptory 


precedents 


office 


orotund 


piano 


premature 


often 


orthoepy 


piquant 


prestige 


oleomargarine oust 


plagiarism 


pretense 


on 


pageant 


plague 


pretty 


opponent 


palmistry 


pomegranate 


primarily 


orchid 


parliament 


prairie 


principle 


ordeal 


patriotism 


predecessor 


progress 


ordnance 


patron 


preface 


proscenium 


orgies 


patronize 


precedence 


protestation 


puissance 


receptivity 


research 


• 
route 


pyramidal 


recess 


resource 


root 


quadrupedal 


recluse 


respite 


routine 


quay 


reconnaissance 


revocable 


salutatory 


querulous 


recreant 


rhythm 


sandwich 


quiescent 


refutable 


rid 


sapient 


quinsy 


regime 


rinse 


satiety 


qui vive 


remonstrate 


Rio Grande 


schedule 


radish 


reptile 


romance 


secretary 


rapine 


requiem 


roof 


senile 


sergeant 


soporific 


suite 


toward 


serpentine 


sovereign 


suggest 


transact 


simultaneous 


splenetic 


supererogatory travail 


since 


spontaneity 


superfluous 


tremendous 


sinecure 


squalor 


taunt 


tribunal 



62 



Oral Reading and Public Speaking 



sirup 


St. Louis 


tenet 


tribune 


sojourn 


stalwart 


tepid 


trilobite 


solitaire 


steady 


testimony 


truculent 


sonorous 


substantiate 


tiny 


truth 


sophistry 


succinct 


topography 


tyrannic 


umbrella 


vehement 


viscount 


wound 


unanimity 


veracity 


visor 


Worcester 


uninteresting 


Versailles 


Wellesley 


wrath 


untoward 


verbose 


wharf 


wreathe 


urbanity 


versatile 


which 


wreak • - 


usage 


version 


whistle 


yacht 


usurp 


via 


whole 


youth 


vagary 


vicar 


whooping 


youths 


vaseline 


victory 


with 


Zaccheus 


vaudeville 


virulent 


wont 


zoology 



A test in pronunciation: 

This rather curious piece of composition was once placed 
upon a blackboard at a teachers' institute, and a prize, a 
Webster's Dictionary, was offered to any person who could 
read and pronounce every word correctly. The book was 
not carried off, however, as twelve was the lowest number 
of mistakes in the pronunciation made: 

"A sacrilegious son of Belial, who suffered from bron- 
chitis, having exhausted his finances, in order to make good 
the deficit, resolved to ally himself to a comely, lenient, and 
docile young lady of the Malay or Caucasian race. He 
accordingly purchased a calliope and a coral necklace of a 
chameleon hue, and securing a suite of rooms at a principal 
hotel he engaged the head waiter as a coadjutor. He then 
dispatched a letter of the most exceptional caligraphy ex- 
tant, inviting the young lady to a matinee. She revolted 
at the idea, refused to consider herself sacrificeable to his 
desires, and sent a polite note of refusal ; on receiving which 
he procured a carbine and a bowie-knife, said that he would 



Enunciation and Pronunciation 63 

not now forge letters hymeneal with the queen, went to an 
isolated spot, severed his jugular vein and discharged the 
contents of the carbine into his abdomen. The debris was 
removed by the coroner." 



CHAPTER V 
MELODY 

Definitions. Melody in speech may be denned as a 
pleasing succession of changes in pitch. 

Pitch is a term applied to the position of the tone rela- 
tive to the key-note. It is dependent on the number of 
vibrations per second. The greater the number of vibra- 
tions the higher the pitch. The number of vibrations is 
dependent on the tension, thickness and length of the vi- 
brating body. 

In the production of vocal sound, our vocal cords vibrate 
with a certain rapidity. And the pitch of our voice de- 
pends on the thickness, length, and tension of these cords. 
The pitch is also slightly modified by the size of the reso- 
nating chambers, but this seldom does more than sharp or 
flat a certain note. 

Compass. The human voice has a certain range which 
lies between the highest and lowest limits. In the ordinary 
individual, this range seldom reaches two octaves. The con- 
ventional voice seldom varies more than one octave, and the 
reading voice is usually limited to a range of two or three 
notes. 

Key. The predominating tone or pitch of the voice in 
speaking is called the key. It may also be defined as the 
average pitch the individual uses ; this ordinarily varies 
from the high soprano voice of girls to the bass voice of 
boys. Your normal key should be a tone near which you 
can speak with greatest ease. 

Inflection. Inflection refers to the bend or wave of the 
voice above or below the key. The Slide denotes a pro- 

64 



Melody 



65 



longed inflection extending over a number of words. Ca- 
dence is a term usually applied to the inflection at the close 
of a sentence. 




A reader, then, must ask himself, "Do I speak in a key 
that is most conducive to ease and effectiveness? Can I 
readily go above or below my normal key?" An habitual 
key, it should be remembered, is not necessarily a natural 
one. Many people habitually speak in either a high or a 
low key, rather than in the middle range. One who speaks 
in a high, thin, squeaky tone, represents the one extreme, 
while one who speaks as from the bottom of a well, repre- 
sents the other extreme. Either extreme is a fault. The 



66 Qral Reading and Public Speaking 

most pleasing voices , use neither the upper register — the 
"head tone" — nor the lower register — the "chest tone" — to 
the exclusion of the other, but readily pass from one to 
the other, as the thought and emotion may require. 

Ease, variety, and strength depend on using the middle 
or average key ; we then have a common point above and 
below which the voice is allowed to play. The importance 
of this free and easy play of the voice in reading and speak- 
ing cannot be overestimated. Inflection, emphasis, climax, 
and modulation generally depend upon it. 

The normal key will vary with the individual. Physio- 
logical conditions will determine what the key of one's voice 
shall be. The point is, are you using to the best advantage 
the key-range that nature has given you? Probably the 
more common fault is exhibited by those who habitually 
use about the highest pitch of their key-range. The high, 
shrill tone of the average American girl is frequently re- 
marked upon by foreigners. Such voices are not only un- 
pleasant to hear, but they lack strength, "body," and the 
power of sustained force. If your voice is too high-pitched, 
you must acquire an habitually lower key. The only way 
to do this is — to lower it. Find the desired note on a musi- 
cal instrument and speak to it. Relax the throat muscles 
and roll the voice out from the chest. Think of its coming, 
if you please, from the diaphragm. Watch yourself in con- 
versation and a\o not allow the voice to rise into a high, 
compressed pitch. On the other hand, if you speak down 
"in the shoes" so that the tone is habitually swallowed, learn 
to raise the key, project the tone, and get it out. 

Again, key should vary with the matter. The manuals 
of elocution give an elaborate classification of degrees in 
pitch, with rules as to how matter, expressive of a given 
function, fits into a certain "degree," but all this is largely 
dogmatic and artificial. The main object should be to 
conceive and feel the thought, and then to use the key best 
adapted for its expression. We know, for example, that in 



Melody 67 

explanatory or narrative matter the key is higher than in 
the expression of deep feeling. In the one case, the sole 
object is to get something lying easily in the speaker's mind 
into the mind of a hearer; in the other case the impression 
lies deeper, and for its adequate expression a deeper note 
must perforce be struck. This is a single phase of the mat- 
ter. On the other hand, uncontrolled mental states — as an 
outburst of indignation — produce a nervous and muscular 
tension which naturally results in a high key. Note the dif- 
ference in the pitch of the tone of a pig that gets his leg 
caught in a fence, and the pitch of his voice when grunting 
contentedly in his pen. When you are excited your muscles 
become contracted, including your throat muscles, your 
pitch will be high, whether it be grief, joy, or pain. On the 
other hand, when the muscles of your body are relaxed, the 
throat muscles will be relaxed, and your pitch will naturally 
be low. The point is to get control and variety of pitch; 
the rest can best be left to the requirements of the varied 
and changing emotions of a given selection. 

Old age is frequently characterized by a high, or even 
falsetto tone. As Shakespeare says, 

His big, manly voice, 
Turning again towards childish treble, pipes 
And whistles in his sound. 

There was a time, now happily passed, when it was 
thought that when a man read the lines spoken by a lady 
that he must imitate her voice and consequently used the 
falsetto tone. Sometimes for the sake of ridicule and fun 
this is still. heard in vaudeville acts, but never by those who 
wish to interpret properly a selection of literature. Neither 
should one use the high pitched voice of the child in reading 
what Little Boy Blue said in the following stanza : 

"Now don't you go till I come," he said; 

"And don't you make any noise !" 
So toddling off to his trundle-bed 
He dreamt of the pretty toys. — Field. 



68 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

For convenience it is well to speak of degrees of pitch as 
high, middle, and low. There is no absolute standard, for 
voices vary with different individuals. What would be a low 
pitch for some would be high for others. 

EXERCISES 

I. Go to a piano and find your normal key. Run up and 
down the scale and register your range. Refer to the table 
in this chapter and find out what your singing voice is. If 
you do not know much about music get some one to assist 
you. 

II. Sing the scale up and down : do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, 
ti, do. 

III. Sing the scale by counting: one, two, etc. 

IV. Run the scale by counting. Do not prolong the 
words as in singing. 

two, 

V. Say: One, three, 

four, 

five, 

six, 

seven, 

etc. 
three, 

VI. Say: One, two, four, 

five, 

six, 

etc. 

VII. Continue with a variety of cadence. 

VIII. Read the first line of each of these couplets four 
notes higher than the second: 

I slept and dreamed that life was Beauty; 

I woke and found that life was Duty. — Hooper. 

"O, father! I see a gleaming light; oh say, what may it be?" 
But the father answered never a word; a frozen corpse was he. 

— Longfellow. 



Melody 69 

IX. Read the following selections and make an effort to 
have a difference of at least four notes between the high key 
and the middle key, and a difference of at least four notes 
between the middle key and the low key. The aid of some 
musical instrument will prove serviceable: 

HIGH KEY 

1. Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, 

The flying cloud, the frosty light; 
The year is dying in the night. 
Ring out, wild bells,, and let him die. 

— Tennyson. 

2. Sing loud, O bird in the tree, 

O bird, sing loud in the sky, 
And honey bees blacken the clover seas, 
There are none of you glad as I. 

— Ina Coolbrith. 
3. 
"Be that word our sign of parting, bird or fiend!" I shrieked, 

upstarting; 
"Get thee back into the tempest and the Night's Plutonian 

shore ! 
Leave no black plume as a token of that lie thy soul hath 

spoken ! 
Leave my loneliness unbroken ! quit the bust above my door ! 
Take thy beak from out my heart, and take thy form from off 

my door." 

Quoth the raven: "Nevermore!" 
The Raven. Poe. 

4. 

Now glory to the Lord of Hosts, from whom all glories are ! 
And glory to our sovereign liege, King Henry of Navarre! 
Now let there be the merry sound of music and of dance, 
Through thy corn-fields green and sunny vines, O pleasant 

land of France ! 
And thou, Rochelle — our own Rochelle — proud city of the 

waters, 
Again let rapture light the eyes of all thy mourning daughters : 
As thou wert constant in our ills, be joyous in our joy, 
For cold and stiff and still are they who wrought thy walls 

annoy. 



70 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Hurrah ! hurrah ! a single field hath turned the chance of war ! 

Hurrah ! hurrah ! for Ivry and Henry of Navarre ! 

The Battle of Ivry. Macaulay. 

MIDDLE KEY 

1. To live content with small means, to seek elegance rather 
than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, 
not respectable; and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think 
quietly, talk gently, act frankly ; to listen to stars and birds, babes 
and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, 
await occasions, hurry never ; in a word, to let the spiritual, unbid- 
den and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be 
my symphony. 

My Symphony. William Henry Channing. 

2. Oh, if I could only make you see 
The clear blue eyes, the tender smile, 
The sovereign sweetness, the gentle grace, 
The woman's soul and the angel's face, 
That are beaming on me all the while! 

I need not speak these foolish words ; 
Yet one word tells you all I would say, — 
She is my mother; you will agree 
That all the rest may be thrown away. 

— Alice Cary. 

3. If I were a man, a young man, and knew what I know to- 

day, 
I would look into the eyes of Life undaunted 

By any fate that might threaten me. 
I would give to the world what the world most wanted 

Manhood that knows it can do and be; 

Courage that dares and faith that can see 

Clear into the depth of the human soul, 

And find God there, and the ultimate goal, 
If I were a man, a young man, and knew what I know to-day. 
If I Were a Young Man. Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 

4. The little Road says Go, 

The little House says Stay; 
And oh, it's bonny here at home, 
But I must go away. 



Melody 71 

The little Road, like me,, 

Would seek and turn and know; 
And forth I must, to learn the things 
The little Road would show ! 
The House and The Road. Josephine Peabody. 

LOW KEY 

1. 

'Tis midnight's holy hour, — and silence now 
Is brooding like a gentle spirit, o'er 
The still and pulseless world. Hark ! on the winds 
The bell's deep tones are swelling, — 'tis the knell 
Of the departed year. 
The Closing Year. George D. Prentice. 

2. Then, with ej^es that saw not, I kissed her; 

And she, kissing back, could not know 
That my kiss was given to her sister, 

Folded close under deepening snow. 
The First Snow-Fail. James R. Lowell. 

3. 

At last the thread was snapped: her head was bowed; 

Life dropped the distaff strough his hands serene; 
And loving neighbors smoothed her careful shroud, 

While death and winter closed the autumn scene. 
The Closing Scene. Thomas Buchanan Read. 

4. And, anon, there strikes the ebony clock which stands in the 
hall of the velvet. And then, for a moment, all is still, and all is 
silent save the voice of the clock. The dreams are stiff-frozen as 
they stand. But the echoes of the chime die away — they have en- 
dured but an instant — and a light, half-subdued laughter floats 
from them as they depart. 

Masque of the Red Death. Edgar A. Poe. 

5. All is peace; and God has granted you this sight of your 
country's happiness, ere you slumber in the grave. He has al- 
lowed you to behold and to partake of the reward of your patriotic 
toils; and he has allowed us, your sons and countrymen, to meet 
you here and in the name of the present generation, in the name 
of your country, in the name of liberty, to thank you ! 

Bunker Hill Oration. Webster. 



78 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Inflection. By inflection, in its broad sense, is meant 
the various bends or waves of the voice above and below the 
dominant key. Its uses are to aid in bringing out the 
thought, to express the relationship between the ideas in a 
discourse, and, in general, to give the "lights and shades" 
to expression in reading. While the inflections of a well- 
modulated voice are infinite in number — gradual or abrupt, 
long or short — the principal movements are as follows: 
The Falling Inflection ( x ), the Rising Inflection ( ' ), the 
Sustained Inflection ( -), the Falling Circumflex ( A ), the 
Rising Circumflex ( v ), the Falling Slide ( \ ), and the 
Rising Slide ( / ). 

Inflections are not conventional devices, but are expres- 
sive of the mind and emotion of the reader or speaker. 
Now, a given passage may be spoken with different inflec- 
tions, according to the interpretation of the individual 
reader, but similar shades of meaning will always find expres- 
sion through similar inflections. One's meaning is often ex- 
pressed far more clearly by the inflections used, than by 
the mere words uttered. If, for example, you see a friend 
evidently making preparations to leave the house, and you 
ask, "Are you going to town?" for the purpose of receiving 
information, you would naturally use a rising inflection on 
"town." If surprised at your friend's leaving, you would 
use a still wider rising inflection. If, now, you had asked 
the question several times and received no answer, and felt 
impatient thereat and demanded your right to an answer, 
then, on repeating the question, you would naturally use 
a pronounced falling inflection, — as if to say, "I want to 
know if you are going to town, and that's all there is to it." 
Hence the General Law of inflection is : When the thought 
is complete, the voice falls; when the thought is incomplete, 
the voice rises. That is, the completeness or incomplete- 
ness of the thought, not the form of the sentence or the 
punctuation, determines the inflection. Nothing could be 
more misleading than to suppose that the voice always falls 



Melody 73 

at the period, for a sentence may be grammatically complete, 
but incomplete in thought. However, since the purpose of 
punctuation is to aid in determining the thought, a period 
usually denotes that the thought is complete. 

Now, there are various applications of the General Law 
as above stated. Let us notice some of them. 

I. The falling inflection denotes affirmation, determina- 
tion, positiveness, assertion, — completeness. Such com- 
pleteness may be either final or momentary. If final, the 
thought is concluded at that point, and this is indicated by 
the fall of the voice, as in the following examples : 

1. I expect to pass through this life but once\ If there is 
any kindness or any good thing I can do to my fellow-beings, let 
me do it now. I shall pass this way but once". 

, —William Penn. 

2. And Morley was dead; to begin with*. — Dickens. 

3. Man's inhumanity to man, 

Makes countless thousands mourn. — Burns. 

4. If every ducat in six thousand ducats 
Were in six parts, and every part a ducat, 

I would not draw them: I would have my bond. 

— Shakespeare. 

II. Momentary completeness arises whenever we wish to 
give a strong affirmative emphasis to a word, although this 
word does not really complete a statement. 

Examples : 

1. The charge is utterly, totally and meanly false. 

— Grattan. 

2. True eloquence does not consist in speech. Words and 
phrases may be marshalled in every way, but they cannot com- 
pass it. It comes, if it comes at all, like the outbreak of a foun- 
tain from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires', with 
spontaneous*, original, native force. — Werster. 

3. I am one among the thousands who loved Henry Grady, 
and I stand among the millions who lament his death. I loved 



74 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

him in the promise of his glowing youth, when across my boyish 
vision he walked with winning grace from easy effort, to success. 
I loved him in the flush of his splendid manhood, when a nation 
hung upon his words, — and now I love him best of alf as he lies 
under the December skies, with face as tranquil and with smile 
as sweet as patriarch ever wore. — Graves. 

4. I am astonished, shocked, to hear such principles con- 
fessed, to hear them avowed in this House x , or even in this coun- 
try! Principles equally unconstitutional, inhuman^, and unchris- 
tian*' ! — Sble cted. 

The falling inflection at pauses of momentary complete- 
ness, as indicated in the foregoing examples, gives the com- 
bined effect of emphasis and positiveness. Used with dis- 
cretion, it is very effective. Used to excess, the delivery be- 
comes heavy and monotonous, and sacrifices the on-move- 
ment of the thought. 

III. A series of words or phrases equally emphatic in 
theory takes the rising inflection, except the last. 

Examples : 

1. Property' character, reputation, everything was sacrificed. 

2. Charity beareth all things', hopeth all things, endureth all 
things. 

IV. . Incompleteness of thought arises in a variety of 
forms. Generally speaking, conditional, doubtful, obvious, 
or negative ideas denote incompleteness, and hence should 
be followed with the rising inflection. 

Examples : 

1. If we fail, it can be no worse for us. 

2. I will wait for you in the corridor, if you do not stay too 
long.' 

3. It is in studying as in eating — he that does it gets benefit, 
not he that sees it done/ 

4. He may be an honest man'; he says he is. 

5. I cannot promise definitely, but I think you may rely upon 
getting it' , 

6. It is not necessary to be rich in order to be happy. We are 



Melody 75 

apt to think that a man must be great, that he must be famous, 
that he must be wealthy. That is all a mistake/ It is not neces- 
sary to be rich? to be great? to be famous? to be powerful? in order 
to be happy? 

— Ingersoll. 

V. A loose sentence is usually delivered with the Fall- 
ing Inflection at intermediate pauses , except the clause pre- 
ceding the last, when the Rising Inflection is used. The 
reason for this general rule is, that by using the rising in- 
flection on next to the last clause, the effect is to connect all 
the preceding clauses with the very close. • 

It is sometimes said that the falling inflection, used at 
the pauses in the following examples, is a partial fall only, 
as distinguished from the complete fall that denotes the 
conclusion of thought. That is, there are degrees of in- 
flection that will represent the various degrees of relation- 
ship between ideas. It would be impossible, as well as un- 
desirable, to give an exposition of these various degrees on 
the printed page. Here again the speaker's mind must be 
the guide. 

Examples : 

1. To-day men point to Marengo in wonderment. They laud 
the power and foresight that so skilfully planned the battle, but 
they forget that Napoleon failed; they forget that he was de- 
feated ; they forget that a general only v thirty years old made 
a victory of the great conqueror's defeat, and that a gamin of 
Paris put to shame- the Child of Destiny. — Anonymous. 

2. 
Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide, 
In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side; 
Some great cause, God's new Messiah, offering each the bloom 

or blight, 
Parts the goats upon the left hand, and the sheep upon the 

right/ 
And the choice goes by forever ? twixt that darkness and that 

light. — Lowell. 

3. A little consideration of what takes place around us every 



76 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

day would show us that a higher law than that of our wills regu- 
lates events"; that our painful labors are unnecessary and fruit- 
less; that only in our simple, easy, spontaneous action are we 
strong' and by contenting ourselves with obedience we become 
divine. — Emerson. 

VI. In a periodic sentence, the Rising Inflection should 
usually be given at the intermediate pauses. The construc- 
tion of a periodic sentence is especially adapted to oratori- 
cal discourse, its leading idea, the climax, being reserved 
till the close. The thought is onlooking, and the rising 
inflection aids the thought-movement onward to the climax. 

Examples : 

1. If men cared less for wealth and fame, 

And less for battle-fields and glory; 
If, writ in human hearts, a name 

Seemed better than in song and story; 
If men, instead of nursing pride, 

Would learn to hate it and abhor it; 
If more relied on love to guide, 

The world would be the better for it. 

If men were wise in little things 

Affecting less in all their dealings — 
If hearts had fewer rusted strings 

To isolate their kindly feelings; 
If men, when Wrong beats down the Right, 

Would strike together and restore it;' 
If Right made Might in every fight, 

The world would be the better for it. 
The World Would Be Better for It. M. N. Cobb. 

2. It was not his olive valleys and orchard groves that made 
the Greece of the Greek; it was not for his apple orchards or 
potato fields that the farmer of New England or New York 
marched to Bunker Hill, to Bennington, to Saratoga. A man's 
country is not a certain area of land^ but it is a principle; and 
patriotism is loyalty to that principle. 

Duty of Educated Men. Curtis. 

VII. In alternative and antithetical expressions, the first 
part usually takes the Rising, the second part the Falling, 



Melody 77 

Inflection. That is, contrasted ideas require contrasted in- 
flections. 
Examples : 

1. Shall we fight, or shall we fly? 

2. ' For I am persuaded, that neither death nor life, nor 
angels nor principalities' nor powers, nor things present' nor 
things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature, 
shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in 
Christ Jesus, our Lord. — Romans viii, 38, 39. 

3. It is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption ; it is 
sown in dishonour/ it is raised in glory ; it is sown in weakness^ 
it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body^ it is raised a 
spiritual body. — I Corinthians xv, 42-44. 

4. Contrast now the circumstances of your life and mine, 
JEschines, and then ask these people whose fortunes they would 
each of them prefer. You taught reading' I went to school ; you 
performed initiations', I received thein ; you danced in the chorus' 
I furnished it"; you were assembly clerkj I was speaker : you acted 
third parts^ I heard you; you broke down, and I hissed; you have 
worked as a statesman for the enemy' I for my country*. 

On the Crown. Demosthenes. 

The Circumflexes. The Circumflexes consist of a com- 
bination of the rising and falling inflections on a single syl- 
lable or word. We have the Falling Circumflex ( A ), where 
the rising inflection is followed by the falling. The Rising 
Circumflex ( v ), when the falling inflection is followed by 
the rising. The Double Rising Circumflex (/v), when the 
falling circumflex is followed by the rising. The Double 
Falling Circumflex ( v\ ) is the union of two falling cir- 
cumflexes. 

Usage. The rising circumflex may be used in expressing 
emphasis and to point the thought forward, as, "You say 
he is going?" This is equivalent to saying, "You say he is 
going, do you?" The falling circumflex may indicate de- 
light and surprise, as, "Oh, how are you?" 

The circumflex is often used in irony, sarcasm, raillery, 



78 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

contempt, duplicity. Beware of one who habitually speaks 
with a zigz&g inflection. His character is no straighter than 
his accent. 

Examples : 

1. You think you are smart, don't you? 

2. You will send your child, will you', into a room where the 
table is loaded with sweet wine' and fruit- — some poisoned, some 
not? — you will say to him, "Choose freely, my little child! It is 
good for you to have freedom of choice; it forms your character 
— your individuality! If you take the wrong cup or the wrong 
berry, you will die before the day is over, but you will have ac- 
quired the dignity of a Free child." — Ruskin. 

3. Signior Antonio, many a time and oft 
In the Rialto you have rated me 
About my moneys and my usances : 

Still have I borne it with a patient shrug; 

For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe. . . • 

Well, then, it now appears you need my help: 

Go to, then; you come to me, and you say, 

Shylock, we would have moneys. . . . 

What should I say to you ? Should I not say, 

Hath a dog money ? Is it possible 

A cur can lend three thousand ducats? Or 

Shall I bend low, and in a bondman's key, 

With bated breath and whispering humbleness, 

Say this, — 

Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last; 

You spurn'd me such a day; another time 

You call'd me dog; and for these courtesies 

I'll lend you thus much moneys? 

— The Merchant of Venice, Act I, Scene III. 

4. O Rome! Rome! thou hast been a tender nurse to me. 
Ay ! thou hast given to that poor, gentle, timid shepherd-lad, who 
never knew a harsher tone than a flute-note, muscles of iron and 
a heart of flint; taught him to drive the sword through plaited 
mail and links of rugged brass, and warm it in the marrow of his 
foe: — to gaze into the glaring eye-balls of the fierce Numidian 
lion even as a boy upon a laughing girl! 

Sparticus to the Gladiators. Kellogg. 



Melody 79 

The Slides. The Slides are prolonged inflections. The 
voice is carried through a series of words, phrases, clauses, 
or sentences, usually from below the key to and above it, 
or vice versa. 

Examples : 

lesson? 
your 
study 

Key 

to 
going 
you 
Are 
I 
am 

studying 

Key 

my 

lesson. 



Usage. The principal uses of the slides are: 
I. A definite question takes the Rising Slide. A definite 
question is one that can be answered by yes or no. 

Examples : 

1 . Are you coming home ? 

£, Is it that summer's forsaken our valleys, 

And grim, surly winter is here ? — Burns. 

3. Hast thou forgot me, then ?/ and do I seem 
Now in thine eyes so foul? — Milton. 

4. Are we to go on cudgelling, and cudgelling, and cudgelling 
men's ears with coarse processes ? Are we to consider it a special 
providence when any good comes from our preaching or our teach- 
ing? Are we never to study how skillfully to pick the lock of 
curiosity; to unfasten the door of fancy; to throw wide open the 



SO Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

halls of emotion, and to kindle the light of inspiration in the souls 
of men ? Is there any reality in oratory ? It is all real. — Beecher. 

II. An indefinite question takes the FaUmg Slide. An in- 
definite question is one that cannot be answered by yes or no. 

Examples : 

1. What can this man say? What can he do? Where can he 

go? 

2. Why was the French Revolution so bloody and destructive ? 
Why was our Revolution of 1641 comparatively mild? Why was 
our Revolution in 1688 milder still? Why was the American 
Revolution, considered as an internal movement, the mildest of 
all? 

3. Shut now the volume of history, and tell me, on any prin- 
ciple of human probability, what shall be the fate of this hand- 
ful of adventurers? Tell me, man of military science, in how 
many months were they all swept off by the thirty ^savage tribes 
enumerated within the early limits of New England? Tell me, 
politician, how long did this shadow of a colony, on which your 
conventions and treaties had not smiled, languish on the distant 
coast? 

Melodic Change in Pitch. In inflection there is a grad- 
ual and definite rise or fall of the voice; usually this change 
is made in a syllable of a word. In reading and speaking 
it is essential that there be a great variety of changes of 
pitch in the same sentence, as well as inflectional changes. 

Imagine listening to a song that had all whole notes and 
these all on the same line on the staff! Some people talk 
like that; many more read like that. When in earnest con- 
versation, we usually have a pleasing variety of pitch, but 
it is very difficult to secure such variety when reading. In 
practicing the following, suppose that the space between 
each line represents one note on the musical staff. It does 
not matter so much just where the change of pitch comes, 
but it is very important that you do have a change of pitch 
of some kind. No two readers woulfl likely agree on the 
melodic changes in any selection. 



Melody 81 

Examples : 

Sol- but 

ebbs 
like the way like 

swells its 

1. Love tide. 



bi- 


Brutus was am- 


he 


But says tious. 




cheer- em- 


pre- i- use- 


ful nent- a ful 


A man is ly man. 




All all 


the and its 


world's men women 


a and merely 


stage, players. 



82 



Oral Reading and Public Speaking 











foot of 


thy 












at the 










Break, 


break, 


break, 








crags, 


OSea! 



of a day 


Will never 


tender grace that 


come 


is 


back 


But the dead 


to me. 



FAULTS IN SPEECH MELODY 

General Monotone. The monotone is a comparatively 
unvarying change of pitch in reading or speaking. It is 
sticking to one tone all the time. This droning tone is often 
heard in the pulpit and everybody feels like taking a nap. 
Cultivate an "agile" tone, not one that is "stiff." Varia- 
tion is restful to the speaker as well as to the audience. 
Most of us have been given good voices, but we do not use 
them. Everything is read and spoken on a dead level. 
Singing is good practice in learning to get away from the 
monotone in speaking, but the best way is to will to make 
your voice more agile. 

There is no greater fault in reading than the habitual 
monotone. But do not run up and down the scale as you 
read or speak just for the sake of changing; let there be 
a mental reason for the change. The thought and emotion 
must determine not only your key, but your change in pitch. 

A Monotony of the Rising Inflection. The effect is a 
continuous flow of words without any breaks or stops. The 



Melody 83 

audience feels impelled to say "Give us a rest!" It is fre- 
quently noticed that this habit is carried to such ridiculous 
extremes that those speakers who swing into a "ministerial" 
or "oratorical" tone, will close a speech or address with the 
rising inflection. The hearers are left suspended, as it were, 
in mid-air, and must come down of their own accord, after 
they realize that the speaker has" concluded. The habit has 
its origin, no doubt, in the use of the rising inflection for 
voicing an appeal, — a characteristic of oratory proper. 
But it is sadly overworked, even by prominent and successful 
orators. Young would-be orators imitate and perpetuate 
the fault, just as young preachers imitate the faults of 
their elders. Avoid it. 

A Monotony of the Falling Inflection. We have seen the 
use of the falling inflection in expressing "momentary com- 
pleteness," — in giving added emphasis, strong affirmation, 
positiveness. For such purposes it is widely serviceable in 
oratory. But the proper use of the falling inflection is a 
very different matter from its habitual and almost constant 
use. Many speakers never seem to see farther than the 
length of a phrase or clause, and at well-nigh every pause 
the voice goes down, no matter what the phrase relation may 
be. This habit gives a scrappy, disconnected, heavy and 
tedious effect to speech. Avoid it. 

Using a Semitone Instead of a Complete Downward 
Slide at the End of a Sentence. Speakers, especially min- 
isters, often drop their voices a semitone instead of a full 
note. This defect is usually accompanied with a prolonga- 
tion and a rise in pitch on the final sound. There are a num- 
ber of variations of this fault, but all result in a pathetic, 
plaintive, wail or whine that is neither pleasing nor effective. 
Drop your voice at least a whole tone, and make a definite, 
straight, downward inflection when the thought is complete, 
or at a full pause. 

Dropping the Voice so Suddenly or so Low That the Last 
Syllable is Husky or Inaudible, This may arise either from 



84 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

an excessive fall of the voice on the final word or syllable, 
or from delivering the syllable or word preceding the close 
in so low a key that there is no room in the compass for a 
further distinct fall. The fault may be corrected by keep- 
ing the voice up — or raising it if need be — on the syllable 
or word preceding the close, and thus preparing for the 
complete and normal fall. 

The High Pitch. It is natural to speak in a low key 
when talking to a friend, and when we address a large crowd 
we think it is necessary not only to speak louder but to 
raise the key. This results from the fact that we have 
only a certain amount of breath to use, and desiring to in- 
crease the amplitude of the vibrations of our cords, we bring 
them closer together so as to vocalize all our breath. This 
produces a tension on the cords resulting in a higher pitch. 
But remember that the carrying power of a voice is not de- 
pendent on pitch. Again, those who speak i» this high key 
seldom have a great range of pitch at this high level, and 
this accounts for the lack of agility of tone in so many 
speakers when before an audience. 

exercises ' 

I. Read the sentence, Do you have your lesson? first as 
a rhetorical, and then as an ordinary question. 

II. Read the following: 

1. Questioning: Do you like this book? 

2. Hesitation : Yes — I — guess — so. 

3. Begging-' Lend me your pencil. 

4. Positiveness : Yes, I like this book. 

5. Irony: Give you money? The idea. 

6. Conciliation: Come, let us be friends. 

III. Othello: "Indeed? ay, indeed! Discern'st thou 
aught in that? Is he honest?" 

Iago: "Honest, my lord?" 
Othello: "Honest? Ay, honest." 



Melody 85 

IV. It is said that a certain actor read Iago's part in 
-this manner: "Honest? My Lord?" How does this dif- 
fer in meaning from this : "Honest', my Lord ?" 

V. Mark the inflections in Lincoln's Gettysburg Address 
in Part III. 

VI. Determine the difference in meaning: 

1. Shall I tell a story or a narrative? 

2. Shall I tell a story or a narrative ? 

VII. Plot out the melody in the following: 

1. The mate for beauty 

Should be a man, and not a money chest! — Lytton. 

2,. Be thou as chaste as ice, as pure as snow, thou shalt not 
escape calumny. — Shakespeare. 

3. In the lexicon of youth, which Fate reserves 
For a bright manhood, there is no such word 
As "fail." — Lytton. 

4. We think our fathers fools, so wise we grow ; 
Our wise sons, no doubt, will think us so. — Pope. 

5. I find earth not gray but rosy, heaven not grim but fair of 

hue. 
Do I stoop ? I pluck a posy. Do I stand and stare ? All's 
blue. — Browning. 

VIII. Tell a short, humorous story. Observe the change 
of pitch. 

MISCELLANEOUS EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE 

Determine the proper Key, Inflection, Slides, and Melody 
in the following: 

I. "I've done now," said Sam, with slight embarrassment; 
"I've been a-writin'." 

"So I see," replied Mr. Weller. "Not to any young 'ooman, I 
hope, Sammy." 

"Why, it's no use a-sayin' it ain't," replied Sam. "It's a 
walentine." 

"A what?" exclaimed Mr. Weller, apparently horror-stricken 
.by the word. 



86 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

"A walentine," replied Sam. 

"Samivel, Samivel," said Mr. Weller, in reproachful accents, "I 
didn't think you'd ha' done it." — Dickens. 

II. Has he maintained his own charges ? Has he proved what 
he alleged? — Webster. 

III. Does the road wind up hill all the way? 

Yes, to the very end. 
Will the day's j ourney take the whole long day ? 
From morn to night, my friend. 

IV. I desired Titus, and with him I sent a brother. Did Ti- 
tus make a gain of you? Walked we not in the same spirit? 
Walked we not in the same steps ? — Bible. 

V. "Is it possible you can forgive me for the miserable lies 
I have uttered?" asked John, almost unconscious of the words he 
was speaking. "Is it possible you can forgive me for uttering 
these lies, Dorothy?" he repeated. — Major. 

VI. We live in deeds, not years ; in thoughts, not breaths ; 
In feelings, not in figures on a dial. 

We should count time by heart-throbs. He most lives 
Who thinks most, feels the noblest, acts the best. 
Life is but a means unto an end; that end, — 
Beginning, mean, and end to all things, — God. — Bailey. 

VII. We are not trying to give an improper advantage to the 
poor man because he is poor; to the man of small means because 
he has not larger means, for that is not in accordance with the 
spirit of this government; but We are striving to see that the man 
of small means has exactly as good a chance, so far as we can 
obtain it for him, as the man of larger means — that there shall be 
equality of opportunity for the one as for the other, because that 
is the principle upon which our government is founded. — Roose- 
velt. 

VIII. Neither blindness, nor gout, nor age, nor penury, nor 
domestic afflictions, nor political disappointments, nor abuse, nor 
proscription, nor even neglect, had power to disturb his sedate and 
majestic patience. — Selected. 

IX. Come, read to me some poem, 

Some simple and heartfelt lay, 
That shall soothe this restless feeling, 
And banish the thoughts of day. 



— - 



Melody 87 

Not from the grand old masters, 

Not from the bards sublime, 
Whose distant footsteps echo 

Through the corridors of Time. 

For, like strains of martial music, 

Their mighty thoughts suggest 
Life's endless toil and endeavor; 

And to-night I long for rest. 

Then read from the treasured volume 

The poem of thy choice, 
And lend to the rhyme of the poet 

The beauty of thy voice. 

And the night shall be filled with music, 

And the cares, that infest the day, 
Shall fold their tents, like the Arabs, 

And as silently steal away. 
The Day is Done. Longfellow. 

first VOICE 

X. "Ah me — the scorching sand ! 

The cloudless, burned-out blue ! 
The choking air on every hand, 

That the rain drops never through !" 

SECOND VOICE 

"The oasis was fair, 

The green palm-tree with its dates, 
And the breath of the far-off ocean-air, 

Where the restful harbor waits." 

FIRST VOICE 

"Ah me — the weary way ! 

The burden heavy to bear! 
The short', swift nights that die to-day, 

The silence everywhere !" 

SECOND VOICE 

"The oasis will rise 

Over the sand-swept ring ; 
In music under cool, starry skies 

Will ripple the running spring." 



88 i Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

FIRST VOICE 

"Ah me — the scorching sand! 

The cloudless, burned-out blue ! 
The choking air on every hand, 

That the rain drops never through !" 
The Desert. Anna C. Brackett. 

XI. I lived first in a little house, and lived there very well, 

I thought the world was small and round, and made of 
pale blue shell. 

I lived next in a little nest, nor needed any other, 
I thought the world was made of straw, and brooded to 
my mother. 

One day I fluttered from the nest to see what I could find. 
I said: "The world is made of leaves, I have been very 
blind." 

At length I flew beyond the tree, quite fit for grown-up 

labors, 
I don't know how the world is made, and neither do my 

neighbors ! 
Bird Thoughts. Author Not Known. 

XII. My home was a dungeon, — how could that be, 
When loftiest ceilings rose stately and free? 
Love roamed in the forest or sat by the sea, 
And through the long hours was nothing to me. 

My home is a palace, — how can that be, 
When through the rude rafters the stars I can see?- 
Love knocked at my window and bade me be free. 
I followed him gladly to share this with thee. 
Then and Now. Rena H. Ingham. 

XIII. In 1861 when Lincoln was a candidate for re-election, 
a friend spoke to him of a member of his Cabinet who was a can- 
didate also. Mr. Lincoln said that he did not concern himself 
much about that. It was important to the country that the depart- 
ment over which his rival presided should be administered with 
vigor and energy, and whatever would stimulate the Secretary to 

such action would do good. "R ," said he, "you were brought 

up on a farm, were you not? Then you know what a chin- fly is. 
My brother and I" he added, "were once plowing corn on a 



Melody 89 

Kentucky f arm,, I driving the horse, and he holding the plow. The 
horse was lazy ; but on one occasion rushed across the field so that 
I, with my long legs, could scarcely keep pace with him. On 
reaching the end of the furrow, I found an enormous chin-fly 
fastened upon him, and knocked him off. My brother asked me 
what I did that for. I told him I didn't want the old horse bitten 
in that way. 'Why,' said my brother, 'that's all that made him 

go!' Now," said Mr. Lincoln, "if Mr. has a presidential 

chin- fly biting him, I'm not going to knock him off if it will make 
his department go." 

— B. F. Carpenter. 



CHAPTER VI 
FORCE 

This property of voice is dependent primarily on the. am- 
plitude of the vibrations of the vocal cords. When a violin 
string is struck, it makes a sound. If it is struck harder, 
it will vibrate with a greater amplitude and make a louder 
sound. The vocal cords are like the violin strings ; the more 
forcefully the breath is thrown against the cords, the greater 
the amplitude and the louder the tone. 

There are several properties of force when applied to 
expression, — Loudness, Volume, Intensity, and Stress. 

Loudness. This property is the direct result of the am- 
plitude of the vocal cords and proper resonance. As a vocal 
quality, it is of great importance. Who has not been sadly 
disappointed in a reader or speaker because of being unable 
to hear what was said? One extreme is about as bad as an- 
other ; speak so that you can be distinctly heard, but not 
too loud. Do not speak with the same degree of loudness 
all the time. As in pitch, avoid monotony. 

A student often asks, "How can I make my voice carry?" 
The carrying power of the voice does not depend on mere 
loudness of tone — not alone on the amount of breath that 
is expended, but also on the amount of breath that still re- 
mains in the lungs. The first thing you do in trying to 
make one hear you at a distance is to take in a deep breath, 
— you instinctively want more breath support. Hence 
breathe often and deeply. When reading, always retain as 
much air in your lungs as possible. 

The degree of loudness is governed by mental concept 

90 



Force 91 

rather than by emotions. When the mind contrasts two ob- 
jects, this contrast may be expressed by using different 
degrees of loudness. 
Example : 

From every hill, by every sea, 
In shouts proclaim the great decree, 
"All chains are burst, all men are free !" 
Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah ! 

The first part should be said in a low tone ; the second in a 
strong, loud tone. 

Again, in interpreting a selection, it is necessary to be 
governed by the meaning to be expressed, as: 

"Halt!" — the dust brown ranks stood fast; 
"Fire I" — out blazed the rifle blast. 

The words of command should be spoken louder than the 
explanations which follow. 

A high key and a loud tone frequently go together; they 
both result from an excited mental state. Therefore, pas- 
sions such as aesthetic joy, defiance, alarm, terror, or rage 
require a louder tone than timidity, contentment, pathos, 
reverence, or veneration. 



EXERCISES IN LOUDNESS 

Say Halt to one person, to ten, to fifty, to one thou- 
sand, — as loud as you can. 

Soft tone: 

J. Softly! She is lying 
With her lips apart. 
Softly ! She is dying 
Of a broken heart. 

II. O balmy breath that dost almost persuade 

Justice to break her sword ! Once more, once more. 
Be this when thou art dead and I will kill thee. 



92 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

And love thee after. Once more, and this the last; 
So sweet was ne'er so fatal. I must weep, 
But they are cruel tears: this sorrow's heavenly; 
It strikes where it doth love. She awakes. 
Othello. Shakespeare. 

III. Jean Valjean listened but there was no sound; he pushed 
the door with the tip of his finger lightly. He heard from the 
end of the room the calm and regular breathing of the sleeping 
bishop. Suddenly he stopped, for he was close to the bed; he had 
reached it sooner than he had anticipated. 

Jean Valjean. Victor Hugo. 

Medium tone: 

I. Whither, 'midst falling dew, 

While glow the heavens with the last steps of day, 
Far, through their rosy depths, dost thou pursue 

Thy solitary way? 

Vainly the fowler's eye 
Might mark thy distant flight to do thee wrong, 
As, darkly seen against the crimson sky, 

Thy figure floats along. 

Seek'st thou the plashy brink 
Of weedy lake, or marge of river wide, ' 
Or where the rocking billows rise and sink 

On the chafed ocean side? 
To a Waterfowl. Bryant. 

II. How often is it the case, that when impossibilities have 
come to pass, and dreams have condensed their misty substances 
into tangible reality, we find ourselves calm and even coldly self- 
possessed, amid circumstances which it would have been a de- 
lirium of joy or agony to anticipate. 

— Hawthorne. 
Loud tone: 

I. Awake, awake ! — 

Ring the alarum-bell. — Murder and treason ! — 
Banquo and Donalbain ! — Malcolm ! awake ! 
Shake off this downy sleep, death's counterfeit, 
And look on death itself! up, up, and see 
The great doom's image ! — Malcolm ! Banquo ! 
As from our graves rise up, and walk like sprites, 
To countenance this horror. Ring the bell. 

Macbeth. Shakespeare. 



i 






JBr£^b^ 




^(■Bh^^BSeImb 




jdpN* 






2 -£*■*-....-_-*." 


--....- ' -" *- " ^-^K^ffi: 



DEMOSTHENES 

From 'painting by Lecomte Du Nouy 



Force 93 

II. "Young mair, ahoy!" 
"What is it?" 
"Beware ! beware ! The rapids are below you !" 

— Gough. 



III. What ho, my jovial mates! come on! we'll frolic it 
Like fairies frisking in the merry moonshine. 



IV. Meanwhile the criers were calling the defendant at the 
four corners of the lists. "Oyes ! Oyes ! Oyes ! Richard Dray- 
ton, duke of Nottingham, come to this combat in which ye be 
enterprised to discharge your sureties this day before your liege, 
the King, and to encounter in your defense Henry Mansfield, 
knight, the challenger. Oyes ! Oyes ! Oyes ! Let the defend- 
ant come." — Scott. 



Volume. Technically, volume refers to the relative quan- 
tity of breath used in the vocalization of a given word or 
phrase. It expresses the quantity, fullness or roundness of 
the tone. A voice of great volume will have an open throat, 
and as the sound rolls out, it must seem to fill the room. 

The volume natural to individual voices differs greatly, 
but one should learn to use discrimination in this regard, as 
in other elements of expression. When a word or phrase 
indicates wide extent or large dimensions, or stands for 
solidity or weight, we should express this concept of large- 
ness in the delivery. The small, delicate, or trivial is ex- 
pressed with less volume than the large, ponderous, or ex- 
pansive. We would, therefore, speak of a mountain daisy in 
a lighter, thinner tone than in speaking of a mountain. 

Increased volume requires a lower key and the chest tone. 
A pure, clear, full tone is a desirable attribute to a good 
voice. Practice the following exercises in a loud, clear tone. 
Be sure that the voice rolls out easily and that the throat is 
not cramped. Avoid having a breathy tone ; vocalize all the 
breath. 



94 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Exercises in Volume 
Small Volume: 

I. I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, 
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. 
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head ; 
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed. 

My Shadow. R. L. Stevenson. 

II. "It's time for me to go to that there buryin'-ground, sir," 
he returned with a wild look. 

"Lie down and tell me. What burying-ground, Jo?" 
"Where they laid- him that was gobd to me; very good indeed, 
he wos. It's time for me to go down to that buryin'-ground, sir, 
and ask to be put along with him. I wants to go there and be 
buried. He used fur to say to me, 'I am as poor as you to-day, 
Jo,' he ses. I wants to tell him that I am as poor as him, now, 
and have come there to be laid along with him." — Dickens. 

Great Volume: 

I. Holy! holy! holy! Lord God of hosts. 

II. Roll on, thou dark and deep blue ocean, roll! 
Ten thousand , fleets sweep over thee in vain. 

— Lord Byron. 

III. Thou, too, sail on, O ship of State; 
Sail on, O Union, strong and great. 
Humanity with all its fears, 

With all its hopes of future years, 
Is hanging breathless on thy fate. 
The Building of the Ship. Longfellow. 

IV. Lift up your heads, O ye Gates; and be ye lifted up, ye 
everlasting doors ; and the King of Glory shall come in. 

Who is this King of Glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the 
Lord mighty in battle. He is the King of Glory. 

— Bible. 

Intensity. Force and intensity sometimes are used in- 
terchangeably. Intensity may be said to be that division of 
force which manifests the degree of energy with which we 
read and speak. Intensity is not limited physically to the 



Force 95 

amplitude of the vibration of the vocal cords, but it is the 
manifestation of the thought and emotional life as expressed 
by the entire body. Intensity of tone is not dependent on 
mere loudness. One may speak with the greatest of intensity 
and not speak above a whisper. 

Intensity denotes strength — a reserve power. Too often 
the student speaks as though he spoke from the "teeth out." 
This does not indicate strength. There seems to be nothing 
back of the voice. It appears all on the surface. It may be 
a loud tone, and perchance, have a great volume, but it is 
like a drum — all hollow within. 

While under great emotional excitement of anger, or sor- 
row, the muscles of the body become tense ; so do the muscles 
governing the vocal cords. These cords may be so tightly 
drawn together that they scarcely vibrate at all. 

Intensity is audible earnestness. The student should 
never confuse mere loudness or volume of voice with intensity 
of tone. Guard against restricting the throat when ex- 
pressing great earnestness. This will cause your voice to 
"break." A pure, clear tone is far more forceful and pow- 
erful and effective than a sharp, squeaky one. Read and 
speak as though you meant every word you said. Show by 
your degree of force the tenderness, pity, love, admiration, 
indignation within you. Get some "pep," as the boys say; 
wake up; get busy — do not read as though it were a task 
or as though you were hired to read, or speak. Show ani- 
mation, life, interest. 

The first thing essential is thoroughly to understand the 
selection read. You must grasp the author's ideas as well 
as you can, and permit yourself to be moved to sympathy, or 
hate, joy, or sorrow, as the case may be. To do this it is 
essential that you know the circumstances under which the 
poem was written or the speech was made. 

A teacher can often, through suggestion, make more defi- 
nite the purpose of the writer, and throw such side-lights on 
the selection as will stimulate the pupil's imagination and 



96 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

feeling. For example, the following words were uttered by 
Henry W. Grady in 1886, in the course of a speech at Bos- 
ton. Mr. Grady was speaking, if not to a hostile audience, 
at least to a critical one. There was at that time before 
Congress a bill that proposed to have the Federal Govern- 
ment take charge of national elections, as was done during 
the Reconstruction period. The opening quotation in the 
following selection was taken from a special message to 
Congress by President Harrison. With all these facts and 
attendant circumstances in mind, the following becomes 
charged with more force in the utterance than might other- 
wise appear: 

The question is asked repeatedly: "When will the black man 
in the South cast a free ballot? When will he have the civil 
rights that are his?" 

When will the black man cast a free ballot? When ignorance 
anywhere is not dominated by the will of the intelligent; when 
the laborer anywhere casts a ballot unhindered by his boss ; when 
the strong and the steadfast do not everywhere control the suff- 
rage of the weak and the shiftless. Then, but not till then, will 

the ballot be free The negro can never control in the 

South, and it would be well if partisans in the North would 
understand this. You may pass your force bills, but they will 
not avail; for never again will a single state, North or South, be 
delivered to the control of an ignorant and inferior race. We 
wrested our state government from negro supremacy when the 
Federal drum-beat rolled closer to the ballot-box and when Fed- 
eral bayonets hedged it about closer than will ever again be 
permitted in a free community. But if Federal cannon thun- 
dered in every voting district of the South, we would still find, 
in the mercy of God, the means and the courage to prevent its 
re-establishment. 

Again, force should change with the varied emotions. All 
force is no force, for herein, as in other elements of expres- 
sion, a hearer is impressed through contrasts. It is easy 
for one to acquire the habit of reading everything, regard- 
less of the content, in a general monotone, — a habit that is 
not uncommon even with experienced readers in reading their 



Force 97 

own productions : some prevailing though indefinite and in- 
appropriate emotion dominates the whole delivery. Some- 
times this is due to non-appreciation of the varying emo- 
tions of a discourse, and again it is simply a habit. A reader 
must learn to appreciate and give free expression to the play 
and interplay of emotions. Of course, the emotions that 
come during the rendition of a given selection will rarely, if 
ever, be exactly the same for different individuals. This, 
however, cannot excuse patent incongruities between the 
thought and its expression, such as being loud and harsh, 
rather than soft and tender, expressing anger where pathos 
is required, or failing to express the transition from one 
emotion to another. If we remember that emotions come 
and go, as the ideas march forward; that now one emotion 
becomes predominant, now another; that at times, in almost 
any selection, occurs the purely intellectual, where little 
force is required, — we may know that one can rarely render 
a selection with a single, continuous emotion and read "nat- 
urally." 

Degrees of Intensity. For convenience, four degrees of 
intensity are suggested: Subdued, Moderate, Energetic, and 
Strong. 

In the exercises that follow, remember that only the gen- 
eral "atmosphere" is suggested. This does not mean that 
every word should be expressed in that degree. Again, re- 
member that strong intensity may be expressed best in a loud 
tone in some selections, but in others, a very low tone should 
be used. 

EXERCISES IN INTENSITY 

Subdued degree: 

I. Sweet and low, sweet and low, 

Wind of the western sea, 
Low, low, breathe and blow, 

Wind of the western sea ! 
Over the rolling waters go, 
Come from the dying moon, and blow, 



98 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Blow him again to me ; 
While my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps. 
The Princess. Tennyson. 

II. Not a drum was heard, nor a funeral note, 

As his corpse to the rampart we hurried; 
Not a soldier discharged his farewell shot 
O'er the grave where our hero we buried. 
The Burial of Sir John Moore. Chas. Wolfe. 

III. O hark, O hear ! how thin and clear, 

And thinner, clearer, farther going; 
O sweet and far, from cliff and scar, 
The horns of Elfland faintly blowing ! 

— Tennyson. 

IV. Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth 
them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame ; he remembereth 
that we are dust. As for man, his days are as grass; as a flower 
of the field, so he flourisheth : for the wind passeth over it, and it is 
gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. — Bible. 

V. O sweet and strange it seems to me, that ere this day is 

done, 
The voice that now is speaking, may be beyond the sun. 
Forever and forever, — all in a blessed home, — 
And there to wait a little while, till you and Effie come. 
To lie within the light of God, as I lie upon your breast, — 
And the wicked cease from troubling, and the weary are at 

rest. 
The May Queen. Tennyson. 

Moderate Degree: 

I. It's easy enough to look pleasant, 
When life flows along like a song. 
But the man that's worth while 

Is the man who can smile 

When everything goes dead wrong. 

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 

II. Is there not an amusement, having an affinity with the 
drama, which might be usefully introduced among us? I mean, 
Recitation. A work of genius, recited by a man of fine taste, en- 
thusiasm, and powers of elocution, is a very pure and high grati- 



Force 99 

fication. Were this art cultivated and encouraged, great numbers, 
now insensible to the most beautiful compositions, might be waked 
up to their excellence and power. It is not easy to conceive of a 
more effectual way of spreading a refined taste through a com- 
munity. The drama undoubtedly appeals more strongly to the 
passions than recitation ; but the latter brings out the meaning of 
the author more. Shakespeare, worthily recited, would be better 
understood than on the stage. Recitation, sufficiently varied, so as 
to include pieces of chaste wit, as well as of pathos, beauty, and 
sublimity ^ is adapted to our present intellectual progress. — Chan- 

NING. 

III. My doctren is to lay aside 
Contensions, and be satisfied; 

Jest do your best, and praise er blame 
That f oilers that, counts jest the same. 
I've alius noticed great success 
Is mixed with troubles, more er less, 
And it's the man who does the best 
That gits more kicks than all the rest. 

— James Whitcomb Riley. 

IV. She is not fair to outward view, 

As many maidens be; 
Her loveliness I never knew 

Until she smiled on me; 
Oh, then I saw her eye was bright — 
A well of love, a spring of light. 

But now her looks are coy and cold ; 

To mine they ne'er reply ; 
And yet I cease not to behold 

The love-light in her eye ; 
Her very frowns are better far 
Than smiles of other maidens are ! 
She is Not Fair to Outward View. Hartley Coleridge. 

V. Flower in the crannied wall, 

I pluck you out of your crannies, 
Hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 
Little flower — but if I could understand 
What you are, root and all, and all in all, 
I should know what God and man is. 

— Tennyson. 



100 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

VI. "My boy, the first thing you want to learn — if you haven't 
learned to do it already — is to tell the truth. The pure, sweet, re- 
freshing, wholesome truth. For one thing it will save you so much 
trouble. Oh, heaps of trouble. And no end of hard work. And a 
terrible strain upon your memory. Sometimes — and when I say 
sometimes I mean a great many times — it is hard to tell the truth 
the first time. But when you have told it, there is an end of it. 
You have won the victory; the fight is over. Next time you tell 
the truth." 

Energetic degree: 

I. It was a lover and his lass, 

With a hey and a ho, and a hey-nonino ! 
That o'er the green cornfield did pass 
In the spring-time, the only pretty ring time, 
When birds do sing hey-ding-a-ding ; 
Sweet lovers love the spring. 

— Shakespeare. 

II. Blessings on thee, little man, 
Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan ! 
With thy turned-up pantaloons, 
And thy merry whistled tunes; 

With thy red lip, redder still 
Kissed by strawberries on the hill ; 
With the sunshine on thy face, 
Through thy torn brim's jaunty grace. 
From my heart I give thee joy; 
I was once a barefoot boy! 
The Barefoot Boy. Whittier. 

III. Oh ! when the heart is full — when bitter thoughts 
Come crowding thickly up for utterance, 

And the poor, common words of courtesy 

Are such a very mockery — how much 

The bursting heart may pour itself in prayer. 

— Willis. 

IV. Here I stand ready for impeachment or trial: I dare ac- 
cusation. I defy the honorable gentleman; I defy the govern- 
ment ; I defy the whole phalanx ; let them come forth. I tell the 
ministers I will neither give them quarter nor take it. I am here 



Force 101 

to lay the shattered remains of my constitution on the floor of this 
House in defense of the liberties of my country. 

Invective Against Corry. Henry Grattan. 

V. Suffer not yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask your- 
selves how this gracious reception of our petition comports with 
those warlike preparations which cover our waters and darken our 
land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and re- 
conciliation? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be recon- 
ciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? Let us 
not be deceived, sir. These are the implements of war and sub- 
jugation — the last arguments to which kings resort. — Patrick 
Henry. 

Strong degree: 

I. Must I budge? Must I observe you? Must I stand and 
crouch under your testy humor? — Shakespeare. 

II. When officers and men have given up all hope of relief, 
and are bravely awaiting a horrible death, Jessie Brown, a cor- 
poral's wife, made doubly sensitive to sound by sickness, hears the 
far-off music of the Scotch regiments sent to their succor, and 
shouts : 

"The Highlanders ! Oh, dinna ye hear 

The slogan far awa' ? 
The MacGregors ! Oh, I ken it weel ; 

It is the grandest of them a'. 

"God bless the bonny Highlanders ! 

We're saved! we're saved!" she cried; 
And fell on her knees, and thanks to God 
Poured forth, like a full flood-tide. 
The Relief of Luchnow. Robert T. S. Lowell. 

III. Dost thou come here to whine ? 

To outface me by leaping in her grave? 
Be buried quick with her, and so will I ; 
And, if thou prate of mountains, let them 
Throw millions of acres on us, till our ground, 
Singeing his pate against the burning zone, 
Make Ossa like a wart ! Nay, an thou'lt mouth, 
I'll rant as well as thou. 
Hamlet. Shakespeare. 



102 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

IV. Oh, save me, Hubert, save me ! 

For Heaven's sake, Hubert, let me not be bound. 
Nay, hear me, Hubert, drive these men away, 
And I will sit as quiet as a lamb. 
Oh, spare mine eyes, 

Though to no use but still to look upon you. 
King John. Shakespeare. 

V. Too hard to bear ! why did they take me thence ? 
O God Almighty, blessed Saviour, Thou 

That didst uphold me on my lonely isle, 
Uphold me, Father, in my loneliness 
A little longer ! aid me, give me strength, 
Not to tell her, never to let her know. 
Help me not to break in upon her peace. 
My children too ! must I not speak to these ? 
They know me not. I should betray myself, 
Never: no father's kiss for me, — the girl 
So like her mother, and the boy, my son. 
Enoch Arden. Tennyson. 

Stress. Stress refers to the manner of apptying the force 
to the emphatic syllable or word. There are two main di- 
visions of stress. It is called radical stress when the greatest 
force is applied at the beginning of the important word, and 
final stress when there is a gradual increase of force cul- 
minating on the last part of the word. 

1. Boot, saddle, to horse, and away! 
Rescue my castle before the hot day 
Brightens to blue from its silvery gray. 

2. Once more into the breach, dear friends, once more. 

Note that in reading the first illustration there was an ex- 
plosion of the breath on the initial syllable which gradually 
diminished. The glottis is forcefully kept closed until there 
is a great pressure beneath it, when it is thrown open like a 
cork popping out of a bottle. 

In the second illustration, the force is applied gradually 
and finally swells into a strong emphasis. 

Radical stress is used in all forms of animated expression ; 



Force 103 

it signifies life and action. It shows decision. Final stress 
is used in expressing determination and impatience. Some- 
times it characterizes a drawling delivery. 

Again, this emphasis may be placed in the middle and 
characterizes the pathetic voice, and the whine. The radical 
and final may be united into a compound stress which is used 
to express irony and sarcasm. 

Care should be used against overdeveloping this abrupt- 
ness. This causes a jerky, dogmatic delivery. Practice the 
following exercises with a view of developing the ability to 
express the thought appropriately: 

EXERCISES 

I. Sound "ah" with a Radical stress ; with, a Final stress. 

II. Say "no" so that it expresses an emphatic negative ; 
so that it shows impatience ; so that it shows sorrow. 

III. Use the word "yes" in the same way. 

Radical stress: 

I. The charge is utterly, totally, and meanly false ! 

— Grattan. 

II. "Now, upon the rebels, charge !" shouts the red-coat officer. 
They spring forward at the same bound. Look ! their bayonets 
almost touch the muzzles of their rifles. At this moment the voice 
of the unknown rider was heard: "Now let them have it! Fire!" 

— Charles Sheppard. 

III. Freedom calls you ! Quick, be ready, — 

Think of what your sires have been; 
Onward, onward ! Strong and steady, 
Drive the tyrant to his den ; 
On, and let the watchword be, 
Country, home, and liberty! 
The Polish War Song. J. G. Percival. 

IV. Sink or swim, live or die, survive or perish, I give my 
hand and my heart to this vote! Sir, before God I believe the 
hour is come. My judgment approves this measure, and my whole 
heart is in it. All that I have, and all that I am, and all that I 



104 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

hope in this life, I am now ready to stake upon it ; and I leave off 
as I began, that, live or die, survive or perish, I am for the 
declaration. It is my living sentiment, and, by the blessing of 
God, it shall be my dying sentiment: — Independence now, and 
Independence forever. — Webster. 

V. Stand ! the ground's your own, my braves ! 

Will ye give it up to slaves? 
Will ye look for greener graves? 

Hope ye mercy still? 
What's the mercy despots feel? 
Hear it in that battle-peal! 
Read it on your bristling steel! 
Ask it, — ye who will. 
Warren's Address. John Pierpont. 



Final Stress: 

I. King Henry. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, 
once more; 
Or close the wall up with our English dead! 
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man 
As modest stillness and humility: 
But when the blast of war blows in our ears, 
Then imitate the action of the tiger; 
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, 
Disguise fair nature with hard-favor'd rage; 
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect; 
Let it pry through the portage of the head, 

Like the brass cannon 

Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide; 

Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit 

To his full height! — On, on, ye noblest English, 

Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof! 

Fathers, that, like so many Alexanders, 

Have in these parts from morn till even fought, 

And sheath'd their swords for lack of argument. . . . 

I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, 

Straining upon the start. The game's afoot: 

Follow your spirit; and, upon this charge, 

Cry — God for Harry ! England ! and Saint George ! 

Henry V. Shakespeare. 



Force 105 

II. You've set me talking, sir; I'm sorry; 

It makes me wild to think of the change ! 
What do you care for a beggar's story? 

Is it amusing? You find it strange? 
I had a mother so proud of me ! 

'Twas well she died before — Do you know 
If the happy spirits in heaven can see 

The ruin and wretchedness here below? 
The Vagabonds. John T. Trowbridge. 

III. It is often said that time is wanted for the duties of re- 
ligion. The calls of business, the press of occupation, the cares 
of life, will not suffer me, says one, to give that time to the duties 
of piety which otherwise I would gladly bestow. Say you this 
without a blush? You have no time, then, for the special service 
of that great Being whose goodness alone has drawn out to its 
present length your cobweb thread of life, whose care alone has 
continued you in possession of that unseen property which you 
call your time. 

— Buckingham. 



CHAPTER VII 

MOVEMENT 

One great element in reading as well as speaking is move- 
ment. The two general divisions are Time and Rhythm. 

TIME 

Time, as an element in expression, refers to the duration 
of utterance. The principal phases are: Rate, Pause, 
Transition, and Quantity. 

Rate. Rate refers to the general rapidity of reading 
and speaking. Within certain limits this is a matter of 
relativity. It varies with the individual temperament, and 
with the subject matter. As to the nature of the selection, 
three divisions of rate are generally recognized: Slow, 
Medium, and Rapid. 

Hear the tolling of the bells — 

Iron bells ! 
What a world of solemn thought their monody compels ! 

The slow tolling of the bells is in unison with the slow 
march of the funeral procession. Deliberate movement per- 
vades the entire stanza. To show haste and impatience in 
such a selection would be very much out of place. Sorrow, 
gloom, reverence, sublimity, command, calling, usually are 
indicative of a slow rate. 

On the other hand, the lines, 

Hear the loud alarum bells — 

Brazen bells ! 
What a tale of terror now their turbulency tells ! 
106 



Movement 107 

suggest a rapid rate. They recall to our minds the burning 
of a building, and every one is running and moving rapidly. 
The lines, 

Hear the mellow wedding bells, 

Golden bells ! 
What a world of happiness their harmony foretells ! 

require a medium rate. Everything is as it should be. 
Everybody is joyous and carefree. 

Thus we see that the thought and emotional content of a 
selection determines the general rate that should be used in 
reading and speaking. 

Haste can frequently be shown without actually reading 
rapidly. A quick decisive attack on a word and a quick 
accent will do much to suggest the element of rapidity. 

Again, when you have a word picture to present to the 
audience, do not go too rapidly. Give them time to picture 
it out in their minds. Do not make the transitions rapidly. 

Cautions. I. Over-rapid utterance — usually the more 
common fault — should be avoided. In the first place, one 
should read slowly enough to enunciate clearly. Further- 
more, reading must be sufficiently deliberate to enable a 
hearer to get the thought as the reader proceeds. By ac- 
quiring the habit of a deliberate, measured utterance, one 
can often increase many fold his power and effectiveness in 
oral expression. Time-taking on significant words and 
phrases is absolutely necessary and essential in order, first, 
that the reader may express adequately their meaning and 
emotional content, and also in order that a hearer may 
comprehend fully and feel the thought and emotion the 
words are intended to convey. 

II. On the other hand, a dragging or drawling utterance 
should be avoided. Sometimes the expression may be so slow 
and labored that a hearer must needs wait on the reader and 
he feels like saying, "Move along." Such a reader must 
acquire more energy and movement in his rendering. 



108 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

III. A well-balanced, even movement, whether fast or 
slow, should be acquired. Reference is now made, not so 
much to a selection as a whole, — for a uniform rate through- 
out a whole selection is rarely desirable, — but rather to 
proper rate-proportion in sentence-delivery. It is the habit 
of some readers to give the first part of a sentence with 
medium or slow rate ; then to snap out the closing words — 
often the most significant part of the sentence — or vice 
versa. The utterance moves by fits and jerks, like a horse 
that has not learned to pull steadily. A well-timed, balanced 
movement should be appreciated and acquired. 

Pause. The pause denotes the time spent between syl- 
lables, words, phrases, or sentences. Language is made up 
of groups of words expressing single ideas, and any dis- 
course is intelligible only through its integral ideas. A 
group of words that expresses a single thought or feeling, 
describes a single event, or pictures a single scene, is called 
a phrase. Good reading requires that these word-groups be 
indicated by pausing between them. Phrasing is vocal punc- 
tuation (indicated by vertical lines, thus : / /) ; it is 

usually identical with grammatical punctuation, though not 
necessarily so. The thought, and not the grammatical con- 
struction, determines the pause. 

A common fault in phrasing is too frequent pausing. This 
arises from word-reading, rather than phrase-reading. In 
word-reading the reader tends to utter a word as soon as he 
sees it, regardless of its relation to other words in the sen- 
tence. But it usually requires several words to express a 
complete idea or picture. In phrase-reading one looks ahead 
of the vocal utterance and groups the words for the proper 
expression of the successive ideas. 

Good sight-reading absolutely requires that the eyes al- 
ways precede the voice by a number of words, so that the 
mind has time to understand the ideas. Wrong phrasing is 
also illustrated in the "sing-song" style of reading poetry, 



Movement 109 

where a pause is made at the end of each line, regardless of 
the sense; and again, when there is little or no pausing be- 
tween phrases, every sentence being given in a single breath, 
and hence no discrimination between the ideas. A reader 
must learn to realize that a pause between the thought- 
phrases is a necessary part of the thought-expression ; that 
such pause is "a silence filled with significance — a time to 
reflect upon what is past and to prepare for what is to 
come." Pauses will vary in frequency and length according 
to the reader's conception of relationship. 

To illustrate : Take the sentence, "John Keys the lawyer 
says he is guilty." These words can be grouped so as to 
express at least a half-dozen different thoughts. It usually 
is a safe plan to take in additional breath at each pause. 

Since punctuation marks are used to help the reader in- 
terpret the meaning, they should be observed carefully. Not 
in the old-time way of counting one at a comma, two at a 
semicolon, and four at a period; though that rule encour- 
aged a mechanical expression, it was better than the plan 
used by many to-day — not to pause at all until at the end of 
the selection. Punctuation marks, especially the comma, 
are being used less and less. At the present time, they are 
seldom used unless their omission makes the meaning 
doubtful. 

Many times you must pause where there is no punctua- 
tion. To illustrate: In Tennyson's The Coming of Arthur 
we read, "And Arthur rode a simple knight among his 
knights." This portrays a unique scene, indeed, unless we 
pause after "rode." 

In the lines, 

"And as the greatest only are. 
In his simplicity sublime/' 

"only" modifies v "greatest." Hence the group is "And the 
greatest only," and not "and the greatest only are." 

In the lines from Robert Browning's Home Thoughts, 
From Abroad: 



110 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Hark,/ where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge/ 
Leans to the field/ and scatters on the clover/ 
Blossoms and dewdrops — / at the bent spray's edge — / 
That's the wise thrush: 

Some never pause until after dewdrops. This makes 
"clover" modify "blossoms." "Clover" is the object of "on" 
and "blossoms and dewdrops" are the objects of "scatter"; 
hence a pause must be made after clover to bring out this 
correct relationship. 

Let the student determine the reason for the suggested 
phrasing in the following example, then read by pausing 
only as indicated: 

I. A thing of beauty/ is a joy forever. — Keats. 

The proper study of mankind/ is man. — Pope. 

The more we work/ the more we win. — Mackey. 

II. The night/ has a thousand eyes,/ 

And the day/ but one;/ 
Yet the light of the bright world dies 
With the dying sun. 

The mind/ has a thousand eyes,/* 

And the heart/ but one;/ 
Yet the light of a whole life dies 

When love is done. 

— Bourdillon. 

III. If you and I — / just you and I — / 

Should laugh/ instead of worry;/ 
If we should grow — /just you and I — / 

Kinder and lighter hearted,/ 
Perhaps in some near by-and-by 

A good time might get started;/ 
Then what a happy time 'twould be 
For you and me,/ for you and me. 

— Selected. 

Transition. In reading, transition refers to the changes 
in expression that take place in passing from one shade of 
thought or feeling to another. It is, in a sense, phrasing 



Movement 111 

on a large scale, and requires proper discrimination as to 
thought-values. The transition from one completed idea to 
another, from a literal statement to an illustration, from the 
mental to the emotional, from one part of a description to 
another, — must be indicated distinctly in the delivery. The 
larger groups, as represented by the paragraph, require 
transitions of wider intervals. At such places the reader 
says to himself, "We now take up a new line of thought," 
or "Here is another phase of this idea," as the case may be. 
The reader must take time to adjust his mind to the change, 
and he must in some way indicate the change to a hearer. 
To accomplish this, the time-element is employed in taking a 
relatively long pause, aided, usually, by a change in rate, 
key, and tone. It should be noted that well-marked, easy, 
natural transitions in reading, besides showing changes in 
the thought, aid much in breaking up a general monotony. 

The disjunctives "but," "if," "however," etc., usually 
herald a transition. In the sentence, "He is brave, generous, 
loving, but he is not trustworthy," a pause should be made 
after "but," the voice lowered in tone and the clause read 
with a slower movement. 

A change in thought must always be accompanied by ap- 
propriate voice modulation. Study the following illustrative 
examples with special reference to the proper expression of 
the transitions : 

I. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. — Job. 

II. The little toy dog is covered with dust 
But sturdy and staunch he stands. — Field. 

III. If you should transfer the amount of your reading day 
by day from the newspapers to the standard authors — but who 
dare speak of such a thing. — Emerson. 

IV. The combat deepens. On, ye brave, 
Who rush to glory or the grave! 
Wave, Munich ! all thy banners wave, 

And charge with all thy chivalry! 



112 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Ah ! few shall part where many meet ! 
The snow shall be their winding sheet, 
And every turf beneath their feet 
Shall be a soldier's sepulcher. 
Hohenlinden. Thomas Campbell. 

V. While all enjoy the balmy air, the bright sunshine, the 
social pleasantries of wit and humor, and the like; these are not 
the fundamental impulses of life. — A. Tompkins/ 

Quantity. This element represents the time given to the 
utterance of the sounds, syllables, and words of a sentence. 
For the sake of convenience, three degrees should be recog- 
nized: — Long, Medium, and Short. 

Long quantity is used to express emphasis, reverence, 
pathos, laziness, and sometimes in expressing an onomato- 
poeic idea. Medium quantity is used in ordinary expres- 
sion. Short quantity is used in joy, laughter, commands 
and ideas of haste. 

Note the difference in the quantity of the words in reading 
the following: 

I. O, a wonderful stream is the rive Time 

As it runs through the realm of tears, 
With a faultless rhythm and a musical rhyme, 
And a boundless sweep and a surge sublime, 
As it blends with the Ocean of Years. 
The Isle of Long Ago. Taylor. 

II. For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams 
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee, 
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes 
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee. 

And so all the night-tide I lie down by the side 
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride, 
In her sepulcher there by the sea, 
In her tomb by the sounding sea. 
Annabel Lee. Poe. 

III. I come from haunts of coot and hern, 

I make a sudden sally, 
And sparkle out among the fern, 
To bicker down a valley. 



Movement 113 

By thirty hills I hurry down, 
Or slip between the ridges, 
By twenty thorps, a little town, 
And half a hundred bridges. 
The Brook. Tennyson. 

IV. A hurry of hoofs in a village street, 

A shape in the moonlight, a bulk in the dark, 
And beneath, from the pebbles, in passing, a spark 
Struck out by a steed flying fearless and fleet. 
Paul Revere's Ride. Longfellow. 

V. There is a tide in the affairs of men 

Which, when taken at its flood, leads on to fortune; 
Omitted, all the voyage of their life 
Is bound in shallows and in miseries. 
Julius Ccesar. Shakespeare. 

VI. Handsome women without religion are like flowers with- 
out perfume. — Heine. 

Remember, only long vowels and the nasal sounds may be 
prolonged to advantage. 

Cautions. One thing must be guarded against in read- 
ing selections in slow rate. Do not overdo the long quan- 
tity of the syllables. In reading a solemn selection, or one 
deeply emotional, there is often a prolongation on the sounds, 
but the greater time consumed in reading a slow selection 
lies in the relative length of the pause between the words 
and phrases, not in the quantity, or the length of time it 
takes to say the words. Avoid a d-r-a-w-1-i-n-g, 1-a-z-y tone 
unless you desire directly to express imitatively this char- 
acteristic. 

Examples : 

Copy the following selections and mark the pauses with 
the bar (/) ; the long quantity of the sounds, syllables, or 
words with a dash ( — ) above them. Also, note the tran- 
sitions. 

Give reasons for the kinds of rate, and for the pause and 
quantity in the selections. 



114 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

SLOW RATE. 

(From 60 to 100 words a minute.) 

I. Eternity, — thou pleasing, dreadful thought. — Addison. 

II. Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean, 

Tears from the depth of some divine despair 
Rise in the heart, and gather to the eyes, 
In looking on the happy Autumn-fields 
And thinking of the days that are no more. 

Tennyson. 

III. I cannot make him dead! 

His fair sunshiny head 
Is ever bounding round my study chair; 
Yet when my eyes, now dim 
With tears, I turn to him, 
The vision vanishes, — he is not there. 
My Child. John Pierpont. 

IV. What's the use of all the moiling, 

All the haste to get ahead? 
You that are so busy toiling 
By to-morrow may be dead. 
Why keep trying, trying, trying, 
Why not halt and call a truce? 
You will presently be dying 

In the harness! What's the use? 
The Idler. S. E.. Kiser. 

V. The hours pass slowly by — nine, ten, eleven, — -how sol- 
emnly the last stroke of the clock floats out upon the still- air. 
It dies gently away, swells out again in the distance, and seems 
to be caught up by spirit-voices of departed years, until the air 
is filled with melancholy strains. It is the requiem of the dying 
year. — Selected. 

VI. Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness ! 

This is the state of man; to-day he puts forth 
The tender leaves of hope; to-morrow blossoms, 
And bears his blushing honors thick upon him: 
The third day comes a frost, a killing frost; 
And — when he thinks, good easy man, full surely 
His greatness is a-ripening — nips his root, 
And then he falls, as I do. I have ventured, 



Movement 115 

Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders, 
This many summers in a sea of glory; 
But far beyond my depth: my high-blown pride 
At length broke under me ; and now has left me, 
Weary and old with service, to the mercy 
Of a rude stream, that must forever hide me. 
Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye: 
I feel my heart new opened. O, how wretched 
Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favors ! 
There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to, 
That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin, 
More pangs and fears than wars or women have : 
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, 
Never to hope again. 
Henry VIII. Shakespeare. 

MEDIUM RATE. 
(From 125 to 175 words a minute.) 

I. The little gate was reached at last, 

Half hid in lilacs down the lane; 
She pushed it wide, and, as she passed, 
A wistful look she backward cast, 
And said, "Auf wiedersehen." 

Auf Wiedersehen. s Lowell. 

• 
II. I have just about concluded, 

After figgerin' quite a spell, 
That appearances don't govern, 
And that blood don't alius tell. 
Appearances Don't Govern. Pfrimmer. 

III. A good life: To think what is true, to feel what is beau- 
tiful, and to deserve what is good. — Plato. 

IV. Reason thus with life, 

If I lose thee, I lose a thing 

That none but fools would keep. 

Shakespeare. 

V. Give us, oh, give us, the man who sings at his work ! He 
will do more in the same time, — he will do it better, — he will per- 
severe longer. One is scarcely sensible of fatigue whilst he 
marches to music. The very stars are said to make harmony as 
they revolve in their spheres. Wondrous is the strength of cheer- 



116 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

fulness, altogether past calculation in its powers of endurance. 
Efforts, to be permanently useful, must be uniformly joyous, a 
spirit all sunshine, graceful from very gladness, beautiful be- 
cause bright. 

Work. Carlyle. 

VI. Read, not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and 
take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh 
and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swal- 
lowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some 
books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not 
curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence 
and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and 
extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in less 
important argument, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled 
books are, like common distilled waters, flashy things. 

Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writ- 
ing an exact man ; and therefore, if a man write little, he had 
need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have 
a present wit; and if he read little he had need have much cun- 
ning, to seem to know that he doth not. 

Essays Of Studies. Bacon. 

RAPID RATE. 

(From 200 to 250 words a minute.) 

I. Pick it up quick, Jack. • 

II. Haste, thee, nymph, and bring with thee 

Jest and youthful jollity, 
Quips, and cranks, and wanton wiles, 
Nods, and becks, and wreathed smiles, 
Such as hang on Hebe's cheek, 
And love to dwell in dimples sleek; 
Come, and trip it as ye go, 
On the light fantastic toe. 
L' Allegro. Milton. 

III. I sprang to the stirrup, and Joris, and he; 

I galloped, Dirck galloped, we galloped all three; 
"Good speed!" cried the watch, as the gate-bolts undrew; 
"Speed!" echoed the wall to us galloping through; 
Behind shut the postern, the lights sank to rest, 
And into the midnight we galloped abreast. 
How They Brought the Good News from Ghent. Browning. 



Movement 117 

IV. What do you say? "If it's painful, why so often do it?" 
I suppose you call that a joke — one of your club-jokes. As I 
say, I only wish I'd any money of my own. If there is anything 
that humbles a poor woman, it is coming to a man's pocket for 
every farthing. It's dreadful ! — D. W. Jerrold. 

V. The mustang flew, and we urged him on; " 

There was one chance left — and you have but one — 
Halt, jump to the ground, and shoot your horse, 
Crouch under his carcass, and take your chance; 
And if the steers, in their frantic course, 
Don't batter you both to pieces at once, 
You may thank your star; if not, good-by 
To the quickening kiss and the long-drawn sigh, 
And the open air, and the open sky, 
In Texas, down by the Rio Grande. 
Lasca. Desprez. 

VI. I just must talk! I must talk all the time! Of course I 
talk entirely too much — no one knows that better than I do — yet 
I can't help it! I know that my continual cackling is dreadful, 
and I know exactly when it begins to bore people, but somehow I 
can't stop myself. Aunt Patsey says I am simply fearful and 
just like a girl she used to know, who lived down East, a Miss 
Polly Blanton, who talked all the time; told everything, every- 
thing she knew, everything she had ever heard; and then when 
she could think of nothing else, boldly began on the family 
secrets. Well, I believe I am just like that girl — because I am 
constantly telling things about our domestic life which is by no 
means pleasant. Pa and ma lead an awful kind of existence — 
live just like cats and dogs. Now I ought never to tell that, 
yet somehow it will slip out in spite of myself. 

The Buzz-Saw Girl. Douglass Sherley. 

RHYTHM 

The second great division of movement is rhythm. The 
universe abounds in rhythm, pulsations, beats ; such as the 
twitter of song-birds, the chirping of insects, the roar of the 
ocean waves, the throbs of the heart. 

This methodic throb of life is expressed both in poetry 
and in prose, and it must be heard to be appreciated. 
Rhythm in speech is a more or less regularly recurring ac- 



US Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

cent or impulse of the voice. Loudness, pitch and duration 
are the three foremost means employed to mark this accent. 
In music and in lyric poetry these modulations come at 
regular intervals. In other forms of poetry and in prose 
it is not so regular. 

Rhythm may be likened to waves as they roll toward the 
shore. They are not all the same height, shape, or distance 
apart, nor do they move with the same rapidity. This 
modification has its' counterpart in speech, song, and in the 
written line. The height of the waves, or accent, indicates 
the degree of intensity. The distance apart, or the duration 
expresses deliberation and strength. The rapidity denotes 
the degree of excitement; and the shape expresses dignity if 
regular, or triviality and instability if irregular. 

Note the rhythm in the following lines from Tennyson's 
Brook: 

I slip', I slide^ I gloont^ I glance, 
Among" my skimming swallows: 

I make" the nettled sunbeams dance 
Against" my sandy shallows ; 

The rhythm is short, quick, but regular, suggestive of the 
movement of the brook. 

Again, note the rhythm of the following from Wolfe's 
The Burial of Sir John Moore: 

We buried him darkly at dead of night^ 

The sod' with our bayonets turning, 
By the struggling moonbeam's misty light, 

And the lantern dimly burning. 

The duration of accent is longer and not regular, indicative 
of the solemnity and uncertainty of their expedition. 

The following lines from a Russian poem express the 
reverence, the majesty, and the. strength in the long regular 
rhythm : 



Movement 119 

Being above all beings! Mighty One, 
Whom none can comprehend, and none explore, 
Who fill'st existence with Thyself alone,— 
Embracing all, supporting, ruling o'er, — 
Being whom we call God, and know no more! 

Suggestions as to Reading Poetry. Sense must never 
be sacrificed to sound ; however, the sound is more important 
in poetry than in prose. A few examples must suffice to 
illustrate. 

In the line, 

The minstrel was infirm and old, — 

there is no accented syllable in the second foot. In reading, 
this should be touched lightly. If emphasis were placed on 
"was," it would be mere sing-song. 

The last of all the bards was he 
To sing' of border chivalry. 

The last measure is not complete. It should be somewhat 
prolonged and a secondary accent given to the ry, making 
it chivalry. Guard against overdoing this. In, 

The quality of mercy is not strained, 

the ity cannot be prolonged. When in doubt stick to the 
sense. 

In the lines, 

' / e 

Work, work, work, 
Till the brain' begins' to swim^ 

both lines have the same meter; and it should take no longer 
to read the second line than the first. 
But in the lines, 

' Break, break, break, 
On thy cold gray stones', O, sea ! 

the "break" cannot be prolonged. If it is, the meaning is 
destroyed. 

Time of duration is not the only element in rhythm; the 



120 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

degree of emphasis must also be considered. Poetry must 
be read, not sung. To avoid sing-song, subordinate the 
meter to the idea to be expressed. Again, the other extreme 
is often taken, i. e., to disregard the meter altogether. The 
union of the meaning and the measure is the secret of good 
poetic reading. 

Observe the rhythm in the following extracts, and justify 
the kind used : 

I. Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the 

wicked, 
Nor standeth in the way of. sinners, 
Nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers: 
But his delight is in the law of Jehovah; 
And on his law doth he meditate day and night. 
And he shall be like a tree planted by the streams of 

water, 
That bringeth forth its fruit in its season, 
Whose leaf also doth not wither; 
And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 
Psalms. David. 

II. O, how our organ can speak with its many and wonder- 
ful voices ! — 

Play on the soft lute of love, blow the loud trumpet of 
war, 

Sing with the high sesquialter, or, drawing its full dia- 
pason, 

Shake all the air with the grand storm of. its pedals and 
stops. — Story. 

III. Let me live in a house by the side of the road, 

Where the race of men go by — 
The men who are good, the men who are bad, 

As good and as bad as I. 
I would not sit in the scorner's seat, 

. Or hurl the cynic's ban ; 
Let me live in a house by the side of the road 
And be a friend to man. 
The House by the Side of the Road. S. W. Foss. 

IV. The mossy marbles rest 

On the lips that he had pressed 



Movement 121 

In their bloom, 
And the name he loved to hear 
Has been carved for many a year 
On the tomb. 
The Last Leaf. Holmes. 

V. Alas for him who never sees 

The stars shine through his cypress trees — 

Who hopeless lays his dead away. 

Nor looks to see the breaking day 

Across the mournful marbles play; 

Who has not learned, in hours of faith, 

The truth to flesh and sense unknown, — 

That life is ever lord of death, 

And love can never lose its own. 
Snow Bound. Whittier. 

VI. How often is the case, that when impossibilities have 
come to pass, and dreams have condensed their misty substances 
into tangible reality, we find ourselves calm and even coldly 
self-possessed, amid circumstances which it would have been a 
delirium of joy or anger to anticipate. — Hawthorne. 

VII. Some one has said, in derision, that the old men of the 
South, sitting down amid their ruins, reminded him of "the Span- 
ish hidalgos sitting in the porches of the Alhambra and looking 
out to sea for the return of their lost Armada." There is pathos 
but no derision in this picture to me. These men were our 
fathers. Their lives were stainless. Their hands were daintily 
cast, and the civilization they builded in tender and engaging 
grace hath not been equalled. The scenes amid which they 
moved, as princes among men, have vanished forever. A grosser 
and more material day has come, in which their gentle hands 
can garner but scantily and their guileless hearts fend but 
feebly. — Grady. 



CHAPTER VIII 

EMPHASIS 

In reading a phrase or a clause, there is usually one word 
that expresses the central idea; in reading a sentence, one 
or more words convey the main thought of the sentence ; and 
in reading a paragraph, some one word or sentence usually 
contains the principal thought of the paragraph. To read 
with due discrimination, these words that bear the burden of 
the thought should be pointed out to a hearer through and 
by the vocal expression. This is the work of emphasis. 
Emphasis, then, is the art of giving the individual words 
the relative importance requisite to make the thought easy 
to seize by a listener. Now, to express this relative impor- 
tance, a good reader will not only emphasize important 
words, but he will also trip lightly over the unimportant 
words. It will readily be seen, therefore, that Emphasis is 
a very essential element of expression. If you take the sen- 
tence, He is going with my friend, and emphasize by turn 
each word, as many different meanings will be expressed as 
there are words in the sentence. The effect of a misplaced 
emphasis is plainly seen if the word "lies" should be empha- 
sized in the following line from Wordsworth : 

Heaven lies about us in our infancy. 

Where we have no emphasis, we have no interpretation of 
the author's thought, and also a hum-drum, monotonous 
reading, which is not uncommon even with many people of 
intelligence. Too much emphasis, on the other hand, only 
detracts from the places where emphasis is chiefly needed. 
Again, many readers use a misplaced or habitual emphasis. 

122 



Emphasis \ 123 

/ . 
This fault frequently appears in the reading of poetry and 
also in the "sing-song" in prose rendition; the hymn reading 
of many preachers consists merely in singing all hymns to a 
single tune. 

Now, there are no invariable rules governing the selection 
of words upon which emphasis shall be placed. Where it 
shall fall in a given sentence depends upon the interpretation 
of that sentence by the individual reader. The trouble is, 
however, that many a reader will fail to use the voice in a 
way to express the meaning of a passage as he sees it. The 
common faults that were mentioned in the preceding para- 
graph suggest that it is of practical importance to learn 
how to emphasize, and so train the voice to obey the mincfc. 
To this end two things are essential to correct emphasis: 
first, a clear understanding of the thought to be expressed ; 
second, a thorough and practical knowledge of the various 
modes of emphasis. These modes are often found in com- 
bination, but the best results will be secured by practicing 
them at first separately. 

Ways or Emphasizing. There are many ways of empha- 
sizing a word or phrase; the five principal ones are, (1) by 
stress, (2) by intensity, (3) by time, (4) by pause, (5) by 
inflection. 

I. Emphasis of Stress. Attention can be called to a 
syllable, a word, or a clause by speaking it more loudly. 
This is the usual way of emphasizing, and is used so fre- 
quently that the term emphasis is often associated only with 
this one form of calling attention to the important words. 

II. Emphasis by Intensity. This form is often more 
effective than the stress-emphasis. It is usually expressed 
by lowering the voice and at the same time putting more 
feeling back of it. In the sentence "War is hell," the word 
"hell" should be emphasized, not by a loud tone, nor by only 
lowering the voice ; but b} T lowering the voice and hitting it 
hard. This is more effective than by yelling it at the top of 



124 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

your voice. Take the sentence, "The merchants say to you, 
— the constitutionalists say to you, — the Americans say to 
you, — and I, / now say, and say to your beard, sir, — you are 
not an honest man," emphasis could be expressed most force- 
fully by dropping the voice just above a whisper on the last 
clause and then putting into it much earnestness. 

III. Emphasis by T'vme, or Quantity. Words or 
phrases carrying the principal idea require relatively more 
time than do those of less importance. There are times 
when ideas of magnitude, length, etc., may be most appro- 
priately emphasized by prolonging the important words. In 
the following sentence note how the thought is brought out 
by dwelling upon the italicized words and phrases : 

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth upon 
this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated 
to the proposition that all men are created equal. 

IV. Emphasis by Pause. This mode of calling atten- 
tion to a word or phrase is based on the fact that, if a 
pause is made before the important word which is to be 
emphasized, the mind will wait in expectancy of the com- 
pletion of the sentence and will more carefully note that 
word when it does come. Also, that a pause "after the im- 
portant word will call attention to that word, because the 
mind will have time to think about the word just spoken. 
The emphatic pause is considered by some the strongest 
method of emphasis. 

Read the following sentences, pausing at the dashes, and 
note the effect: 

1. The one rule for attaining perfection in any art is — prac- 
tice. 

2. Quoth the raven — "nevermore." 

3. In this — God's — world, dost thou think there is no jus- 
tice? 

4. My answer would be — a blow. 

5. This — shall slay them both. 



Emphasis 125 

V. Emphasis by Inflection. A word is emphasized by 
inflection when it is inflected in a manner different from the 
normal. A change in pitch is the chief element in subordi- 
nation. The mind naturally associates a change of thought 
relationship with a change in inflection. Either the rising 
or falling inflection may be used ; but the falling inflection is 
more often employed. A downward inflection and a pause at 
the end of the word is not an unusual combination ; espe- 
cially in sentences like these: 

\ \ v 

"Inhuman wretch, take that, and that, and that." 

"There was a South of slavery and secession — that South is 
dead." 

This form of emphasis cannot be used exclusively in a 
selection as it would render the delivery heavy and jerky. 
It is best not to let your voice fall from the key note ; it 
should be first raised so that there can be a longer sweep 
of the inflection, and a distinct delivery still be maintained. 

There are degrees in all methods of emphasis. Some 
words are to be merely touched by the voice; others are to 
be emphasized; and others should be given still greater em- 
phasis. The most effective emphasis is frequently a combi- 
nation of two or more modes. Such as, Pause and Inflec- 
tion ; Stress and Inflection ; Pause and Stress ; Pause and 
Intensity ; Time and Stress ; Time, Pause, and Stress. 

Rules of Emphasis. I. The key-word or words of a 
sentence should be discovered and emphasized. The follow- 
ing tests should be applied to discover the logical relation of 
the words: 1. What words are indispensable to the 
thought? 2. What words must a person hear to tell what 
you are talking about? S. What words can, by rearrange- 
ment, be made the climax of the sentence? 

Study the following examples and note the key-words as 
italicized : 



126 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Centuries ago, on the rock-bound coast of Massachusetts Bay, 
one night there was a wedding. The sky was the roof that 
covered the high contracting parties, and the stars, painted by 
the finger of God, were the fresco-work; the music was that of 
the singing night-bird and the surge of the gray old ocean; 
the bidden guests were the Puritan fathers and the Puritan 
mothers; the unbidden guests were the dusky savages; the bride 
and the bridegroom were the meeting-house and the school-house, 
and from that marriage there was born a child. They christened 
it New England civilization. — Frye. 

II. Subordinate the modifying or qualifying words, 
phrases, and clauses. Keep the relatively unimportant ideas 
in the background ; the more important should be made to 
stand out boldly. 

A study in subordination: 

Speak the speech (I pray you), as I pronounced it to you, 
trippingly oh tne tongue; but if you mouth it (as many of your 
players do), I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do 
not saw the air too much with your hand, thus; but use all 
gently: for in tn"e very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) 
the whirlwind of passion, you must acquire and beget a tem- 
perance tKat may give it smoothness. Oh, it offends me to the 
soul to hear a robustious, periwigpated fellow tear a passion to 
tatters, to very rags, to split tne ears of tKe groundlings, who 
(for the most part), are capable of nothing but inexplicable 
dumb-shows and noise. I would have such a fellow whipped 
for o'erdoing Termagant; it out-herods Herod: pray you avoid 
it. 

III. Ideas compared or contrasted should be empha- 
sized. This is a very important rule, and should always 
be carefully observed. Sometimes the antithesis is implied, 
only one part of the contrast being expressed. The oppos- 
ing term must be supplied mentally. Note numbers 7 and 8. 

Practice the following: 

1. Let us be sacrificers not butchers. — Shakespeare. 

2. I have found you an argument, I am not obliged to find 
you an understanding. — S. Johnson. 

3. Our good business ,15% not to see what lies dimly at 



Emphasis 127 

a distance, but to do what lies clearly at hand. — Carlyle. 

4. It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. — 
Bible. 

5: There are sifts of commission; and sins of omission. 

6. With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firm- 
ness in the right, as God gives us to see the right. — Lin- 
coln. 

7. I trust I am speaking to a gentleman. 

8. He never took a cold bath. 



IV. Words once emphasized should not be emphasized 
again unless repeated for the purpose of emphasis. When 
these words are repeated, it is well to vary the mode of 
emphasis, or else effect a climax. 

Examples : 

1. I have seen the gleam from the headlight of some giant 
engine rushing onward through the darkness, heedless of oppo- 
sition, fearless of danger; and I thought it was grand. I have 
seen the light come over the eastern hills in glory, driving the 
lazy darkness before it, till leaf and tree and blade of grass 
glittered in the myriad diamonds of the morning ray; and I 
thought that was grand. I have seen the light that leaped at 
midnight athwart the storm-swept sky, shivering over chaotic 
clouds, 'mid howling winds, till cloud and darkness and shadow- 
haunted earth flashed into midday splendor; and I knew that 
was grand. But the grandest thing, next to the radiance that 
flows from the Almighty Throne, is the light of a noble and 
beautiful life, wrapping itself in benediction round the destinies 
of men, and finding its home in the bosom of the everlasting 
God. — Graves. 

2. They were American soldiers. So are we. They were 
fighting an American battle. So are we. They were climbing 
up a mountain. So are we. The great heart of their leader gave 
them time, and they conquered. The great heart of our country 
will give us time, and we shall triumph. — Curtis. 

V. Distinguish between emphasis of a single word and 
that which should be distributed to the whole of a phrase 
or clause. Throwing the entire emphasis on one or two 



128 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

adjectives, or on the adjective rather than on the noun, is 
a common fault. 
Example : 

Our fathers raised their flag against a power to which Rome, 
in the height of her glory, is not to be compared; a power that 
has dotted over the surface of the whole globe with her posses- 
sions and military posts; whose morning drum-beat, following 
the sun and keeping company with the hours, circles the earth 
with one continuous and unbroken strain of the martial airs of 
England. — Webster. 

Climax. Climax is the artistic building up of a dramatic 
effect by means of increased emphasis. The climactic ar- 
rangement of the author's thoughts and ideas affords a very 
effective means of arousing the emotions. It is often used 
in oratory in making an appeal. Each succeeding emphasis 
should be stronger than the last, though all need not be of 
the same kind. 

Appropriately express the thought relationship in the 
following examples. Be sure that it has an accumulative 
effect. The Stress-emphasis is usually used in the climax. 
Sometimes the Stress-emphasis is used on all words except 
the last, Intensity-emphasis being used on the last word 
or phrase. This is often very dramatic. 

Examples : 

1. Mr. Calhoun, while in the Senate one day, made a speech 
in which he stated that he was Henry Clay's master. Mr. Clay 
arose, shaking his finger at Mr. Calhoun, and said in tones and 
looks in which were concentrated the greatest scorn and defiance : 
"He my master! He my master! He my master! Sir, / 
would not own him for my slave !" 

2. If I were an American as I am an Englishman, and a for- 
eign troop were landed in my country, I would never lay down 
my arms. Never ! Never! Never ! — Burke. 

3. The merchants say to you, — the constitutionalists say to 
you, — the Americans say to you, — and I, I now say, and say to 
your beard, Sir, — You are not an honest man. — Curran. 



Emphasis 129 

4. You remember the story J. Russell Lowell tells of Web- 
ster, when we in Massachusetts were about to break up the Whig 
party. Webster came home to Faneuil Hall to protest. Draw- 
ing himself up to his loftiest proportions, his brow charged with 
thunder, he exclaimed: "Gentlemen, I am a Whig, a Massachu- 
setts Whig, a revolutionary Whig, a constitutional Whig, a Fan- 
euil Hall Whig, and if you break up the Whig party, where am I 
to go?" "And," says Lowell, "we all held our breath wondering 
where he could go." 

Eulogy on O'Connell. Phillips. 

5. When a wind from the lands they had ruin'd awoke from 

sleep, 
And the water began to heave and the weather to moan, 
And or ever that evening ended a great gale blew, 
And a wave like a wave that is raised by an earthquake grew, 
Till it smote on their hulls and their sails and their masts and 

their flags, 
And the whole sea plunged and fell on the shot-shatter'd 

navy of Spain, 
And the little Revenge herself went down by the island 

crags, 
To be lost evermore in the main. 
The Revenge. Tennyson. 

A FEW CAUTIONS 

I. Avoid emphasizing too much, or none at all, or at 
random. 

That voice all modes of passion can express 
Which marks the proper word with proper stress; 
But none emphatic can that speaker call 
Who lays an equal emphasis on all. 

II. Avoid emphasizing the next to the last word in a 
sentence irrespective of the thought expressed. This lends 
to the "ministerial" tone so much disliked. 

III. Avoid emphasizing a word at certain regular inter- 
vals. This is characteristic of the "darky preacher tone." 

IV. Avoid using only one kind of emphasis. Practice all 
methods. No one mode will be best at all times. 

V. Avoid a monotonous chant. Plutarch relates that 



130 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Julius Caesar, while yet a youth, hearing some person read 
in a chanting tone, said: "Are you reading or singing? 
If you sing, you sing badly ; if you read, you- nevertheless 
sing." 

After all, formal rules are of little value. Unless the 
reader" gets the thought, he will be unable to emphasize 
properly. Still, there are some who may know when to 
emphasize but are unable to pull the right strings so as to 
manipulate the machinery. But it is very important that 
we know how to emphasize and that we do emphasize. As 
Professor S. H. Clark says: "One's emphasis is the gauge 
of one's ability to understand. Whatever else a man may 
be he is not a reader if he fails to emphasize correctly. 
One who emphasizes correctly is more likeiy to do justice 
to his author in other regards. Nothing else betrays our 
ignorance of the text like bad emphasis." 

Exercises : 

Practice the following, using each of the five principal 
methods of emphasis on as many examples as possible. Then 
decide which would be most effective. 

I. To be or not to be — that is the question: 
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer 
The slings arid arrows of outrageous fortune, 
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 
And, by opposing, end them? — To die — to sleep — 
No more; and, By a sleep, to say we end 
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks 
That flesh is heir to — 'tis a consummation 
Devoutly to be wished. To die — to sleep — 
To sleep? — perchance to dream — aye, there's the rub! 
For, in that sleep of death, what dreams may come 
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 
Must give us pause! There's the respect 
That makes calamity of so long life: 
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, 
The pangs of disprized love the law's delay, 



Emphasis 131 

The insolence of office, and the spurns 
The patient merit of the unworthy takes — 
When he himself might his quietus make 
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, 
To groan and swea£ under a weary life, 
But that the dread of something after death — 
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn 
No traveller returns — puzzles the will, 
And makes us rather bear those ills we have 
Than fly to others that we fcwow not o/7 
Thus conscience does make cowards of us o/Z: 
And */ms the native hue of resolution 
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought; 
And enterprises of grea£ pi£/i and moment, 
With f/ii* regard, their currents turn awry, 
And Zo$e the name of action. 
Hamlet's Soliloquy. Shakespeare. 

II. Talent is something, but fac£ is everything. Talent is 
serious, sober, grave and respectable; tact is aZZ that, and more 
too. It is not a s£.rJ/i sense, but it is the life of all the five. It 
is the open eye, the quick ear, the judging taste, the keen smell 
and the lively touch ; it is the interpreter of all riddles, the sur- 
mounter of all difficulties, the remover of all obstacles. It is use- 
ful in all places and at all times; it is useful in solitude, for it 
shows a man his way into the world; it is useful in society, for 
it shows him his way through the world. Talent is power, tact 
is skill; talent is weight, tact is momentum; talent knows what 
to do, tact knows how to do it; talent makes a man respectable, 
tact will make him respected; talent is wealth, tact is ready 
money. — London Atlas. 

III. So live, that when thy summons comes to join 
The innumerable caravan, that moves 
To the pale realms of shade, where each shall take 
His chamber in the silent halls of death, 
Thou go not, like the quarry-slave at night, 
Scourged to his dungeon; but, sustained and soothed 
By an unfaltering trust, approach thy grave, 
Like one who wraps the drapery of his couch 
About him, and lies down to pleasant dreams. 
Thanatopsis. Bryant. 



132 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

IV. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 
He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; 
He leadeth me beside the still waters. 
He restoreth my soul. 
He guideth me in the paths of righteousness for His 

name's sake. 
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of 

death, 
I will fear no evil; for Thou art with me. 
Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me. 
Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine 

enemies ; 
Thou hast anointed my head with oil; 
My cup runneth over. 
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days 

of my life; 
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. 
Psalms xxiii. David. 

V. When I came to my castle, for so I think I called it ever 
after this, I fled into it like one pursued; whether I went over 
by the ladder as first contrived, or went in at the hole in the 
rock, which I called a door, I cannot remember; no, nor could 
I remember the next morning; for never frighted hare fled to 
cover, or fox to earth, with more terror of mind than I to this 
retreat. — Defoe. 

VI. I said, "The past is dead, 

I will bury it deep and still 
With a tablet over its head — • . 

'Of the dead one may speak no ill.' ,: 

I dug down in the loam, 

I sealed up the grave with prayer; 

But the past was the first one home, 
And waited to greet me there. 
Tine Past. Jeannette Bliss Gillespy. 

VII. In the following poem, note that the key-word 
in the first stanza is "arrow"; and in the second "song." 
In the last stanza, do not omit emphasizing "oak" and 
"heart of a friend." , 



Emphasis 133 

I shot an arrow into the air, 
It fell to earth, I knew not where; 
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight 
Could not follow it in its flight. 

I breathed a song into the air, 
It fell to earth, I knew not where; 
For who has sight so keen and strong 
That it can follow the flight of song? 

Long, long afterward, in an oak 
I found the arrow, still unbroke; 
And the song from beginning to end 
I found again in the heart of a friend. 
The Arrow and the Song. Longfellow. 



CHAPTER IX 
QUALITY 

The three chief characteristics of tone are pitch, force 
and quality. The first two have been considered. We have 
seen that pitch depends on the number of vibrations per 
second, and force on the amplitude of the vibration; quality 
is dependent on the character of the vibrations. 

Every sound wave has two kinds of vibrations, the funda- 
mental, the vibration of the entire string; and secondary 
vibrations, the movement of definite parts of the string. 
The number and arrangement of these overtones deter- 
mine the quality of the sound. 

In the human voice this character is very complex. As 
we have seen, the voice is not made by the vocal cords 
alone, but is modified by the resonating cavities. Hence 
these cavities, to a large degree, determine the quality of the 
sound. And, thirdly, the texture of the vibrating surfaces 
aids in modifying the nature of the sound. This is some- 
times called "timbre." 

The form of the resonating chambers and the texture 
of its walls can be slightly modified at will; but under nor- 
mal circumstances this condition remains the same, thus 
permitting each individual to possess a quality of voice 
peculiar to himself alone. But if you put a pebble in your 
mouth or in some other manner change the size or shape 
of the resonating chambers, your voice will change its char- 
acter. 

Most people can name the kind of instrument when they 
hear a certain note struck upon it. A note of the same 
pitch and force played on a violin can easily be told from 

134 



Quality 135 

the same one played on the organ or flute. Why? Even 
two violins do not have the same quality. A Stradivarius 
violin has a much sweeter tone than our modern make. The 
difference lies in the texture of the wood rather than in 
the size of the resonating surfaces. 

A flute is said to have fourteen overtones, a violin twenty- 
one. This accounts for the richness of the tone of the 
violin. 

The human voice is capable of producing a very great 
variety of overtones. The character or shape of the second- 
ary vibrations of the voice is modified unconsciously by the 
emotions. Hence by the quality of voice is meant that 
subtle change in the tone produced sympathetically in ex- 
pressing the various emotions. 

Atmosphere. By atmosphere is meant the general qual- 
ity of voice used in interpreting a literary selection, or a 
part of a selection. It is the "setting" or general spirit of 
the piece as a whole. 

Kinds. Co-ordinate with the three phases of mental ac- 
tivity — the intellect, the emotions, and the will — we may 
characterize three main divisions of atmosphere. These 
three divisions are also co-ordinate with the three chief 
purposes in expressing thought. Every sentence that is 
spoken or written appeals to one or more of these phases 
of the mind. Every sentence is expressed for the purpose 
of (1) giving information, (2) awakening emotions, or 
(3) arousing to action, or the making of a choice — the 
volitional type. 

Broadly speaking, the Essay (descriptive, narrative, ex- 
pository, or argumentative) is a type of the intellectual 
quality. True literature (poetry and the best of prose) 
belongs to the second group. The oration belongs to the 
third division. Frequently a selection will contain all three 
elements ; but usually one predominates. In poetry the 
emotional element is never wholly absent, even in those 



136 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

poems usually termed "descriptive," e.g., The Bells, by 
Poe. 

It might be helpful at times to speak of a selection as 
having an "atmosphere," or general tone of sadness, joy, 
animation, sublimity, smoothness, meditation, humor, etc. 
What is called "local coloring" of a selection will aid in 
determining its atmosphere. Where is the scene laid? 
What were the circumstances which gave rise to the selec- 
tion? Is it an expression of the author's own experience? 
Did he "sing because he was happy," or because he got two 
dollars per line? 

Dominant Voice Qualities. As the voice is the index 
of the soul, and since "out of the abundance of the heart 
the mouth speaketh," we find three qualities of voice to 
correspond to the three types of expression: 

I. The intellectual voice is used t;o interpret the intel- 
lectual type of selection. It is used in descriptive matter, 
in imparting information ; it is the didactic voice ; it is the 
voice the teacher often uses in explaining a problem to her 
class. This quality is characterized by a clear, hard, dis- 
tinct, metallic resonance. It is often high pitched and lacks 
agreeable modulations and flexibility. The intellectual 
voice has been called a "white" voice; it belongs to the 
analytical mind, and is used much by the debater. The 
intellectual gestures are used. This quality is used largely 
in ordinary conversation. 

II. The spiritual voice expresses feeling. It is charac- 
terized by a soft, smooth, musical, and inflectional tone. Lit- 
erature is read in this tone. It is "colored" and modulated 
to express the various emotions of the author. Beauty is 
expressed by the spiritual voice; it is the persuasive tone; 
it is used in animated discourse, and whenever the heart is 
touched as well as the mind. The open hand is used in 
gesturing. A great range of pitch is demanded. A spir- 
itual quality should be cultivated by every one. "Her voice 



Quality 137 

was ever soft, gentle and low, — an excellent thing in 
woman." An expressive, agreeable, well-modulated voice 
is a priceless possession. Manliness is not characterized by 
a rough, grouchy, lion-like, bull-dog voice. The spiritual 
voice is indicative of refinement and culture. 

III. The vital voice is characterized by a full, deep, 
strong, loud tone; the pitch is often low and re-enforced 
by chest resonance. It is the voice of command, the voice 
of the leader, the orator. This type is used to arouse; 
it stirs men to action; but it must not be degraded into a 
harsh, throaty, raspy, brute tone. It must be clear, pure, 
powerful, earnest, and express ideas and thoughts of great 
weight and importance. This quality is used in Carlyle's 
The Triumph of Truth (See Part III). Most orations con- 
tain all three of the general qualities. Gesturing with a 
clinched hand is not rare; however, the entire body must 
be sympathetically expressive of the earnestness of feeling 
dominated by a strong will. 

ILLUSTRATIVE TYPES 

Intellectual. 

I. Love all, trust a few, 
Do wrong to none ; be able for thine enemy 
Rather in. power, than use ; and keep they friend 
Under thy own life's key ; be check'd for silence, 
But never tax'd for speech. 

All's Well That Ends Well. Shakespeare. 

II. Truth is always congruous, and agrees with itself; every 
truth in the universe agrees with every other truth in the uni- 
verse ; whereas falsehoods not only disagree with truth but usually 
quarrel among themselves. — Daniel Webster. 

Emotional. 

I. Is this a dagger which I see before me, 

The handle toward my hand ? Come, let me clutch thee. 

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. 

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible 

To feeling as to sight? or art thou but 

A dagger of the mind, a false creation, 



138 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain? 
I see thee yet, in form as palpable 
As this which now I draw. 
Macbeth. Shakespeare. 

II. We buried the old year in silence and sadness. To many 
it brought misfortune and affliction. The wife hath given her 
husband and the husband his wife at its stern behest; the father 
hath consigned to its cold arms the son in whom his life centered, 
and the mother hath torn from her bosom her tender babe and 
buried it in her heart in the cold, cold ground. — Edward Brooks. 

Volitional. 

I. Ye sons of Freedom, wake to glory! 

Hark ! Hark ! what myriads bid you rise ! 
Your children, wives, and grandsires hoary, 

Behold their tears, and hear their cries. 
Shall hateful tyrants, (mischief breeding, 

With hireling hosts, a ruffian band), 

Affright and desolate the land, 
While peace and liberty lie bleeding? 
The Marseilles Hymn. DeL'Isle. 

II. If ye are brutes, then stand here like fat oxen waiting 
for the butcher's knife; if ye are men, fellow me! strike down 
yon sentinel, and gain the mountain-passes, and there do bloody 
work as did your sires at old Thermopylae! — Elijah Kellogg. 

Tone-Color. Tone-color is the emotional modulation of 
a pure tone. Since it is related directly to the emotions, 
it may be well to take a general survey of them. 

Emotions. Our feelings control our actions. We are 
always in some mood. Life is a succession of emotions. 
They are the big things. Literature is the expression of the 
emotions in language. Just what are emotions and how 
do they come about? Consult some good psychology. How- 
ever, all that is vital to the reader is how to express his 
own. No satisfactory analysis of emotions has ever been 
made. There are very many and so many degrees of each 
kind that you might as well attempt to count *all the pos- 
sible colors, shades, and tints used by the artist. Broadly 



Quality 



139 



speaking, they may be divided into positive and negative. 
The positive emotions have a beneficial effect on the sys- 
tem; they cause expansion, quicken the action of the heart, 
increase respiration and stimulate all normal functions of 
the body. The effect on the voice is to increase the rate, 
extend the pitch and brighten and purify the quality of 
tone. S\\ 

The negative emotions poison the system, exhaust the 
nervous supply, and depress all vital functions. They en- 
courage harsh, unpleasant tones, lower the pitch, enfeeble 
the volume and retard the rate. 

Following is a classification of the more common positive 
emotions, with the corresponding negative: 



Positive. 



Negative. 



pleasure 


— pain 


sympathy 


— antipathy 






compassion 


— disdain 


contentment 


— discontentment 


mercy 


— aversion 


cheerfulness 


— depression 


pity 


— disgust 


merriment 


— disappointment 


ease 


— anxiety 


gladness 


— sadness 


boldness 


— timidity 


delight 


— melancholy , 


assurance 


— alarm 


happiness 


— sorrow 


bravery 


— fear 


j°y 


— grief 


courage 


— cowardice 


bliss 


— distress 


heroism 


— terror 


rapture 


— despondency 






ecstasy 


— misery 


self-esteem 


— humility 






conceit 


— modesty 


like 


— dislike 


hauteur 


— lowliness 


admiration 


— scorn 


vanity 


— meekness 


love 


— hate 


pride 


— shame 


honor 


— ridicule 


complacency 


- — regret 


reverence 


— abhorrence 


elation 


— remorse 


adoration 


— repugnance 


arrogance 


— dejection 


idolization 


— profanation 


exaltation 


■ — anguish 



Positive. 



Negative. 



140 



Oral Reading and Public Speaking 



Positive. 



Negative. 



Positive. Negative. 



resignation — i 


uneasiness 




faith 


— worry 


confidence — 


suspicion 




hope 


— despair 


belief — < 


doubt 




triumph 


— desperation 


trust — < 


Iread 








The following are not contrasted: 




Positive. 


Negative. 


Positive. 


Negative. 


firmness 


longing 


annoyance 


fury 


determination 


yearning 


vexation 




defiance 




indignation 


ill-will 




surprise 


resentment 


envy 


attention 


wonder 


anger 


jealousy 


interest 


astonishment 


revenge 


greed 


enthusiasm 


awe 


wrath 


avarice 


desire 




ra 


ge 





The foregoing lists contain about one hundred and 
twenty-five emotions. The classification is, of course, far 
from complete. A single word frequently represents a dozen 
different shades of emotions. There are at least twenty 
varieties of love. 

In changes in pitch or rate, as we have seen, readers and 
speakers are usually very monotonous ; they do not exercise 
a great range of voice. In like manner the average person 
seldom permits himself a great range of emotional life. 
Stoicism is characteristic of our commercialized nation. 
No, you must not wear your heart on your sleeve, weep 
with the trials of a moving picture heroine, or giggle at the 
funny pictures in the colored supplement of the newspaper 
so that you can be heard a block away. That, however, is 
not sentiment, but sentimentalism. It is said that the foun- 
tains of joy and of tears lie close together. The man or 
woman who feels most, lives most. Unless you can experi- 
ence the emotions of the author, you cannot express them; 
not any more than you can express the thoughts of the 




< *» 



o «* 

Si 



Quality 141 

author without understanding them. Vivid imagination will 
aid you in putting yourself into a proper mood. And when 
you feel the emotion your voice will naturally assume the 
right pitch, resonance, and quality, if it is a trained voice. 
The motto always is, "From within out." If your emotions 
are not genuine — only assumed, — the audience will know 
you are shamming and you will appear "stagy" and "af- 
fected" and "sickly sentimental." And ever remember that 
on the platform the adage runs, "Laugh and the world 
laughs with you, weep and they laugh at you." You do .not 
gain sympathy by giving way to your grief, but by your 
struggle to overcome your grief. The audience sympathizes 
with a man who struggles, not with the man who lets go. In 
rendering dramatic selections, or when a speaker is about to 
be overcome with his emotions of sorrow or anger, let him 
pause until he gets control of himself and his voice. This 
silence is tremendously eloquent. The trembling voice, with 
a "tear in the throat" resonance, is an expression of weak- 
ness, not of strength. Never use a quivering voice nor pro- 
long the last syllable of a sentence after dropping it a semi- 
tone. This error is often made by ministers who imagine 
they have an effective "pleading voice." 

External Aids. Assuming appropriate facial and 
physical attitudes of emotion you desire to express, will 
often aid greatly in mentally appreciating that particular 
emotion. If you desire to express joy, stand erect, chest 
out, put on a smile, and while in this attitude, thmk the 
joyous idea you wish to express. 

In love, sympathy, devotion, and kindred emotions, the 
pitch is above normal, with an interested, earnest facial ex- 
pression. Surprise, wonder, and amazement are portrayed 
facially by elevated eyebrows, and open eyes and mouth. In 
sorrow, shame, anxiety, etc., the face assumes a dejected 
look, the muscles being relaxed or drawn down. Pride, 
courage, etc., demand an erect head, chest out, body firm, 



142 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

eyes open, and a strong clear voice. 

But do not forget that merely assuming these external 
attitudes is worse than useless unless they are the expression 
of the mental state within. 



EXAMPLES OF TONE-COLOR 



Happiness : 



The year's at the spring, 
The day's at the morn; 
Morning's at seven; 
The hill-side's dew-pearled; 
The lark's on the wing; 
The snail's on the thorn; 
God's in his heaven — 
All's right with the world. 
Pippa Passes. Browning. 

Sorrow: 

My days are in the yellow leaf, 

The flowers of love and fruit are gone : 
The worm, the canker, and the grief, 
Are mine alone. 
Latest Verses. Byron. 

A dmiration : 

O sacred forms, how proud you look! 
How high you lift your heads into the sky ! 
How huge you are ! how mighty and how free ! 
Ye are the things that tower, that shine, — whose smile 
Makes glad, whose frown is terrible, whose forms, 
Robed or unrobed, do all the impress wear 
Of awe divine. 
Tell to His Native Hills. Knowles. 

Scorn : » 

The leper raised not the gold from the dust: 
"Better to me the poor man's crust 
Better the blessing of the poor 
Though I turn me empty from his door." 
Vision of Sir Launfal. Lowell. 



Quality 143 



Adoration: 



Being above all beings ! Mighty One, 

Whom none can comprehend, and none explore, 

Who fill'st existence with Thyself alone — 
Embracing all, supporting, ruling o'er, — - 
Being whom we call God, and know no more ! 
God. . G. R. Derzhaven. 

Hate: 

Thou hast had shelter under my roof, and warmth at my 
hearth; thou hast returned evil for good; thou hast smitten and 
slain the thing that loved me and was mine; now hear thy pun- 
ishment. I curse thee ! and thou art cursed ! May thy love be 
blasted — may thy name be blackened — may the infernals mark 
thee — may thy heart wither and scorch — may thy last hour re- 
call to thee the prophet voice of the sage of Vesuvius. 

Last Days of Pompeii. Lytton. 

Pity: 

Alas ! for the rarity 
Of Christian charity 
Under the sun ! 
O, it was pitiful ! 
Near a whole city full, 
Home she had none. 
The Bridge of Sighs. Hood. 

Disgust: 

What, shall one of us, 
That struck the foremost man in all the world 
But for supporting robbers, shall we now 
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes, 
And sell the mighty space of our large honours 
For so much trash as may be grasped thus ? 
I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon, 
Than such a Roman! 
Julius Ccesar. Shakespeare. 

Courage: 

"Who dares" — this was the patriot's cry, 
As striding from the desk he came — 
"Come out with me in Freedom's name, 
For her to live, for her to die !" 



144 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

A hundred hands flung up reply, 
A hundred voices answered, "£." 
The Revolutionary Rising. Read. 

Cowardice : 

Sir Lucius — Well, here they're coming. 

Acres — Sir Lucius, — if I wa'n't with you, I should almost think 
I was afraid, — if my valor should leave me! — valor will come 
and go. 

Sir Lucius — Then pray keep it fast, while you have it. 

Acres — Sir Lucius, — I doubt it is going — yes my valor is cer- 
tainly going ! — it is sneaking off ! — I feel it oozing out, as it were, 
at the palms of my hands. 

The Rivals. Sheridan. 

Pride : 

Oh, and proudly stood she up ! 

Her heart within her did not fail; 
She looked into Lord Ronald's eyes, 
And told him all her nurse's tale. 
Lady Clare. Tennyson. 

Regret: 

O, Cromwell, Cromwell! 
Had I served my God with half the zeal 
I served my king, he would not in mine age 
Have left me naked to mine enemies. 
Henry VIII. Shakespeare. 

Hope : 

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; 
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; 
Thy fate is the common fate of all, 
Into each life some rain must fall, 
Some days must be dark and dreary. 
The Rainy Day. Longfellow. 

Despair: ^ 

Oh! somewhere, somewhere, God unknown exist. and be! 

I am dying; I am alone; I must have thee. 
God ! God ! my sense, my soul, my all, dies in the cry ; — 
Sawest thou the faint star flame and fall ? Ah ! it was I. 
Last Appeal (The Infidel's Prayer). Myers. 



Quality 145 

Defiance: 

But here I stand and scoff you; here I fling 
Hatred and full defiance in your face ! 
Your Consul's merciful; — For this all thanks. 
He dares not touch a hair of Catiline ! 
Catiline's Defiance. George Croly. 

Awe: 

O change ! O wondrous change ! 

Burst are the prison-bars ! 
This moment there so low, 
So agonized, and now, 

Beyond the stars ! 
The Pauper's Death-bed. Southey. 

Anger: 

In an absolute frenzy of wrath, I turned at once upon him, 
who had thus interrupted me, and seized him violently by the 
collar. He was attired, as I had expected, in a costume alto- 
gether similar to my own. "Scoundrel," I cried, in a voice husky 
with rage, while every syllable I uttered seemed as new fuel to 
my fury; "scoundrel! imposter ! accursed villain! you shall not — 
you shall not dog me unto death ! Follow me, or I stab you where 
you stand!" 

William Wilson. Poe. 

Greed: 

Ah! could they see 
These bags of ducats, and that precious pile 
Of ingots, and those bars of solid gold, 
Their eyes, methinks, would water. What a comfort 
It is to see my moneys in a heap 
All safely lodged under my very roof. 
Here's a fat bag: let me untie the mouth of it. 
What eloquence ! What beauty ! What expression ! 
Could Cicero so plead? Could Helen look 
One half so charming? 
The Miser Fitly Punished. Osborne. 

Jealousy : 

By the world, 
I think my wife be honest, and think she is not; 
I think thou art j ust, and think thou art not ; 



146 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

I'll have some proof: My name, that was as fresh 
As Dina's visage, is now begrim'd and black 
As mine own face, — If there be cords, or knives, 
Poison, or fire, or suffocating steam, ' 
I'll not endure it, — Would I were satisfied. 
Othello. Shakespeare. 

Word-Coloring. Word-coloring is suiting the sound to 
the sense of a word or phrase. There are many words in 
our language which in themselves suggest definite voice 
modulations. Such as, buzz, swish, hiss, hum, bang, boom, 
ping-pong, honk-honk, toot, neigh, bow-wow, etc. Give to 
such words their characteristic vocal color. 

Again, there is another class of words that can be ex- 
pressed emotionally by touching them with appropriate em- 
phasis. Such as far, long, high, wide, etc. These should be 
given a time emphasis, suggesting their appropriate quali- 
ties. Words like quick, jerk, kick, should never be drawn 
out. Tiny, little, narrow, etc., are given a "small" quality 
of tone, while harsh, angry, rough, etc., suggest a guttural 
tone. Words like home, God, mother, should be spoken with 
love, reverence, and veneration. 

Thus we see that word-coloring, while it may include 
onomatopoeia, is a great deal more than mere imitation. Its 
use is to express the emotional significance of words over 
and beyond their literal meaning. Says Cicero, in his De 
Oratore, "The tones of the voice, like musical chords, are so 
wound up as to be responsive to every touch, sharp, flat, 
quick, slow, loud, gentle. Anger, fear, violence, pleasure, 
trouble, each has its own tone for expression." The quality 
of the voice should reveal an appreciation of what words 
mean, as they are uttered. And so with phrases, clauses, 
and sentences. 

EXERCISES 

In practicing the following examples, first create the gen- 
eral atmosphere by putting yourself in the proper mental 



Quality ^147 

attitude. If intellectual, imagine yourself explaining some- 
thing. If emotional, feel the emotions. If volitional, seek 
to stir some one to action. 

I. Read the following selections in all three different 
ways: 

1. Whoever you are, be noble; 

Whatever you do, do well; 
Whenever you speak, speak kindly, — 
Give joy wherever you dwell. — Ruskin. 

2. Heaven is not reached by a single bound, 
But we mount the ladder by which we climb ; 
From the lowly earth to the vaulted skies, 

And mount to its summit round by round. — Holland. 

II. Note how a preacher should vary the general at- 
mosphere with the different purposes during the course of 
the morning services : 

1. (Announcements.) Mrs. Blank will entertain the King's 
Daughters at her home Friday evening at 8 o'clock. 

Mr. Blank will sing a solo at the evening services. 

2. (Prayer.) The day returns and brings us the petty round 
of irritating concerns and duties. Help us to perform them with 
laughter and kind faces; help us to play the man; let cheerful- 
ness abound with industry. Give us to go blithely on our busi- 
ness all this day; bring us to our resting beds weary and content 
and undishonored ; and grant us in the end the gift of sleep. — 
Robert Louis Stevenson. 

3. (Part of sermon.) Remember, Christ will not reject 
thee; though thou mayest reject Him. There is the cup of mercy 
put to thy lip by the hand of Jesus. I know, if thou feelest 
the need, Satan may tempt thee not to drink, but he will not 
prevail; thou wilt put thy lip feebly and faintly, perhaps, to it. 
But, oh, do but sip ! and the first draught shall give thee bliss ; 
and the deeper thou shalt drink the more heaven shalt thou know. 
— Charles Spurgeon. 

III. Determine the atmosphere of the following, and 



148 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

express in appropriate tone-color. Name the emotions — if 
any — suggested. 

1. He that loves a rosy cheek, 

Or a coral lip admires, 
Or from star-like eyes doth seek 

Fuel to maintain his fires; 

As old Time makes these decay, 

So his flames must waste away. 

Disdain Returned. Thomas Garew. 

2. Tender-hearted stroke a nettle, 

And it stings you for your pains; 
Grasp it like a man of mettle, 

And it soft as silk remains. 
'Tis the same with common natures; 

Use 'em kindly, they rebel; 
But be rough as nutmeg-graters, 

And the rogues obey you well. 

— Written on a Window in Scotland. 

3. And this man 

Is now become a god ; and Cassius is 
A wretched creature, and must bend his body, 
If Caesar carelessly but nod on him. 
He had a fever when he was in Spain, 
And, when the fit was on him, I did mark 
How he did shake: 'tis true, this god did shake: 
His coward lips did from their color fly; 
Arid that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world, 
Did lose its luster. 
Julius Ccesar. Shakespeare. 

4. If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, 
chapels had been churches and poor men's cottages princes' 
palaces. It is a good divine that follows his own instructions: 
I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than to 
be one of the twenty to follow my own teaching. The brain 
may devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps o'er a 
cold decree. 

Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare. 

5. O wad some power the giftie gie us, 
To see oursel's as ithers see us ! 



Quality 149 

It wad frae monie a blunder free us, 
An' foolish notion. 
To a Louse. Burns. 



6. I have had playmates, I have had companions, 

In my days of childhood, in my joyful school days; 
All, all are gone, — the old familiar faces. 
The Old Familiar Faces. Charles Lamb. 

7. Good name in man and woman, dear my lord, 
Is the immediate jewel of their souls: 

Who steals my purse, steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 
'Twas mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands ; 
But he that niches from me my good name, 
Robs me of that which not enriches him, 
And makes me poor indeed. 
Othello. Shakespeare. 

8. No family is too poor to have the table covered with a 
clean white cloth, ornamented with flowers in their season, and 
made inviting with refined manners and cheerful intercourse. — 

Gen. J. W. Phelps. 

9. I had a dream, which was not all a dream. 
The bright sun was extinguished, and the stars 
Did wander darkling in the eternal space, 
Rayless and pathless, and the icy earth 

Swung blind and blackening in the moonless air; 
Morn came, and went, and came, and brought no day. 
And men forgot their passions in the dread 
Of this their desolation; and all hearts 
Were chilled into a selfish prayer for light. 
Darkness. Lord Byron. 

10. Portia — A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine. 

The court awards it and the law doth give it. 
Shyloch — Most rightful judge. 
Portia — And you must cut the flesh from off his breast; 

The law allows it and the court awards it. 
Shyloch — Most learned judge! A sentence! 

Come, prepare! 
Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare. 

11. Tone-color is essential to the true expression of poetry. 
Without this, it speaks to the intellect only, not to the heart. 



150 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

If there is word-painting, express this by the tone, but do not 
exaggerate. Suggest rather than imitate. Where elevation of 
thought is required, let it be obtained by elevation of feeling, 
giving tone-color not by loudness, swagger, or display of art. — 
Selected. 

12. Hark! I hear the bugles of the enemy! They are on 
their march along the bank of the river. We must retreat in- 
stantly, or be cut off from our boats. I see the head of their 
column already rising over the height. Our only safety is in 
the screen of this hedge. Keep close to it; be silent; and stoop 
as you run. For the boats ! Forward ! — Kleiser. 

13. "Jo, my poor fellow!" 

"I hear you, sir, in the dark, but I'm a gropin' — a gropin'; 
let me catch hold of your hand." 
"Jo, can you say what I say?" 

"I'll say anything as you say, sir, for I know it's good." 
"our father." 

"Our Father. — That's very good, sir." 
"which art in heaven." 

"Art in Heaven. — Is the light a comin', sir?" 
"It is close at hand, hallowed be thy name." 
"Hallowed be — thy — name." 
Death of Little Jo. Dickens; 

14. He that has light within his own clear breast, 
May sit in darkness and enjoy bright day; 
But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts, 
Benighted walks under the mid-day sun. 

Comus. John Milton. 

15. "O, bury me not in the deep, deep sea!" 
These words came low and mournfully 
From the lips of a youth who lay 

On his cabin couch, at the close of day. 

He had wasted and pined, 'til o'er his brow 
The death-shade had slowly pass'd; and now, 
When the land and his fond-loved home were nigh, 
They had gather'd around to see him die. 
The Ocean Burial. Captain Wm. H. Saunders, U. S. A. 

16. Let me go where'er I will 

I hear a sky-born music still: 



Quality 151 

It sounds from all things old,, 

It sounds from all things young, 

From all that's fair, from all that's foul, 

Peals out a cheerful song. 

It is not only in the rose, 
It is not only in the bird, 
Not only where the rainbow glows, 
Nor in the song of woman heard, 
But in the darkest, meanest things 
There always, always something sings. 
The Poet R. W. Emerson. 

17. Do unto another what you would he should do unto you; 
and do not unto another what you would not like if done to 
yourself. Thou needest only this law alone. It is the founda- 
tion and principle of all the rest. — Confucius. 

18. There should be no selfish devotion to private interests. 
We are born not for ourselves only, but for our kindred and 
fatherland. We owe duties not only to those who have benefited, 
but those who have wronged us. We should render to all their 
due; and justice is due even to the lowest of mankind. — Cicero. 

19. With klingle, klangle, klingle, 
Way down the dusty dingle, 
The cows are coming home; 

Now sweet and clear, and faint and low, 
The airy tinklings come and go, 
Like chiming from some far-off tower, 
Or pattering of an April shower 
That makes the daisies grow — 

Ko-kling, ko-klang, koklinglelingle. 

Way down the darkening dingle 

The cows come slowly home. 
When the Cows Come Home. Agnes E. Mitchell. 

20. You are the evening cloud floating in the sky of my 

dreams. 
I paint you and fashion you ever with my love longings. 
You are my own, my own, Dweller in my endless dreams. 

With the shadow of my passion have I darkened your eyes, 
Haunter of the depth of my gaze ! 



15£ Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

I have caught you and wrapped you, my love, in the net 

of my music; 
You are my own, my own, Dweller in my deathless dreams. 

— Rabindranath Tagore. 



CHAPTER X 

VOCAL INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE 

Definition. Literature in its broadest sense may be 
said to include all that is written or printed. But in its 
usual and more restricted meaning, it embodies only the 
genuine thought life and emotional life of the race. Mr. 
Arlo Bates says, "Literature is the adequate expression of 
genuine and typical emotion." It is one of the fine arts ; and 
as such must express the ideal in mankind. To be the highest 
form of literature, it must be emotional, universal, genuine, 
sincere, and true to life. In reading literature, we live the 
life of the race. A selection is beautiful and enjoyed by us 
only when it expresses a phase of life comprehended within 
our experience. It must voice our thoughts, our emotions, 
our experience. 

Vocal Interpretation. To interpret the thoughts, 
emotions, and the action of others adequately, is impossible 
through silent reading. We may gather the thought life of 
the race in this way, but the emotional phase escapes us; 
and, as we have seen, this is the only expression of true 
literature. Hence poetry and the best of prose must be 
read aloud to be appreciated by ourselves, and it is the only 
way we may be able to interpret it to others. 

Classification. In the study of a selection with a view 
to its vocal interpretation, the classification on the basis of 
purpose suggested in the previous chapter, will be adequate 
for the present. A more detailed classification is presented 
in Part II, Chapter VI. Through the study of literature 

153 



154 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

the student will have familiarized himself with many other 
classifications. 



Thought Analysis. The first step in the study of any 
selection is to understand it; the second step is to repro- 
duce it. 

No selection can be read or spoken properly until under- 
stood. To determine the author's thoughts is frequently 
no easy task, if not altogether an impossible one. To re- 
produce in our own emotional life what the author felt, is 
still more difficult. Nevertheless, the aim of the reader 
should ever be to apperceive the author's meaning and feel- 
ing and express the same to others to the best of his ability. 
He should not be content until he has exhausted all resources 
at his command. 

Words on the printed page are meaningless and dumb 
until the reader conceives and voices the meaning. The 
reader is the author's interpreter. The first thing, then, is 
to interpret properly the author's meaning. While it is 
desirable to acquire facility in reading at first sight, the 
best interpretative reading, even of the most simple prose, 
requires close study in advance of oral expression. For a 
student of reading, at any rate, such preliminary study, 
with a view of comprehending and assimilating the thought 
and feeling of a selection, should alwaj^s precede any at- 
tempt at the oral expression. This general suggestion is 
presented in detail in the following directions. 

Let each pupil prepare a written report on his analysis 
of an assigned selection. Each report should be reviewed 
with its author, and sometimes with the entire class. Such 
reports should be continued until the class has a thorough 
grasp of the requirements of thought analysis. Such re- 
ports should be required at intervals throughout the year 
to guard against superficial study. Keep in mind that good 
reading requires close, accurate, vigorous thinking, and the 
lack of this care in reading, in turn, gives rise to most of 



Vocal Interpretation of Literature 155 

the troubles that pupils have with other studies. 

Written Work. Just how much of the following outline 
should be required in written form will vary with each selec- 
tion and with the progress of the class : this must be left to 
the discretion of a wise teacher. Usually, it will not be de- 
sirable to require answers to Section VI. handed in. Far 
better, however, to study only a few selections intensely 
than to skim over many. 



Questions and Directions eor a Written Report Pre- 
liminary to Its Orae Presentation 

i. the author 

1. Who was the author? 

2. Tell briefly what you know of his life. 

3. Name some of his best productions. 

4. What was his temperament? Was he thoughtful, 
melancholy, pleasant, kind, sociable, sorrowful, cynical, op- 
timistic, pessimistic? 

5. What were the immediate circumstances in his life 
that led him to write the selection, or deliver the speech? 

II. THE ATMOSPHERE, OR GENERAL SETTING 

1. Where is the scene laid? When? 

2. Local color, — surroundings, characters interested, 
etc. 

8. When the selection was written or spoken, was the 
author in a happy mood, or was he sorrowful, penitent, 
angry, hopeful, or what emotion best describes his feelings? 

4. Is the general purpose of the selection didactic, emo- 
tional, or volitional? 

5. Of what incidents or emotions in your past life does 
this remind you? 



156 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

HI. GENERAL ANALYSIS 

1. Classify the selection. Is it a lyric poem, essay, ora- 
tion, lecture, monologue, or what? 

2. What is the theme of the selection? This frequently 
is not the subject. 

3. What is the embodiment, if any? That is, what 
mechanism or means does the. author use to convey this 
theme? 

4. Do the paragraphs or stanzas mark the natural 
thought divisions? 

5. Determine the central thought in each logical para- 
graph. 

6. Name the rhythm. Is it appropriate? Why? 

7. What general picture comes to your mind when you 
read this selection? 

8. What scenes can you most vividly imagine? Are they 
visual, auditory, motor, or what? 

IV. DETAILED ANALYSIS 

1. Determine the meaning of each word and phrase; ex- 
plain all historical, geographical, and classical allusions. 

2. Determine the meaning of each sentence. Paraphrase 
the more difficult sentences. 

3. What word, phrase, or clause in each sentence ex- 
presses the principal idea? 

4. What words or phrases lend themselves to word-col- 
oring? 

V. MECHANICAL AIDS 

1. Copy the entire selection, or such parts as may be 
deemed expedient. 

2. What successive words should be grouped together? 
That is, where should the pauses come? 

3. Indicate these pauses by vertical bars (|). This 
should include stops at the end of the sentence. Use one 



Vocal Interpretation of Literature 157 

(|), two (||), or three (|||) bars to indicate the relative 
length of the pauses. 

4. What word, words, phrase, or clause in each sentence 
conveys the principal idea? the new idea? the compared or 
contrasted ideas? Underscore such words. Degrees of 
emphasis may be indicated by the number of lines used. 

5. Recall the various rules for inflection and mark the 
inflected words appropriately. 

6. How many climaxes are there? Are they all of the 
same degree? Indicate them with this sign: < 

VI. EXPRESSION 

1. What is the normal key of this selection? (High, 
medium, or low.) 

2. What general movement is appropriate? (Fast, 
medium, or slow. ) 

3. What degree of intensity should be used? of loudness? 
of volume? Why? 

4. What general quality of voice is demanded? (Intel- 
lectual, spiritual, or vital.) 

5. What changes of pitch are suggested in the various 
sentences ? 

6. Indicate changes of thought by changes in pitch, 
movement, volume, loudness, intensity, quality, etc. 

7. Place yourself in the author's position. Use your 
imagination to place yourself there. Look at the selection 
from his point of view as much as you can. 

8. Read or speak the selection as though you were in the 
author's place. But do not imitate him. Be yourself. Do 
not be satisfied with one reading, or with ten. Master the 
selection. Reproduce it the best you can. 

Just how much of the above outline should be required in 
written form will vary with each selection and with the 
progress of each pupil. The pupil should determine this in 



158 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

consultation with the instructor. Usually it will not be 
expedient to present written answers to Section VI. 

A Specific Illustration 
(A written report by a pupil) 

CROSSING THE BAR 

I. The Author. 

1 and £. Alfred Tennyson was born at Somersby, Eng- 
land, in 1809; and died at Farringford, Isle of Wight, in 
1892. He attended Oxford College, but did not seem to 
enjoy college life. He began writing poetry at a very early 
age, and a great future was predicted for him. 

3. Some of his best known poems are: Two Voices, 
Idylls of the King, The Princess, In Memoriam, Charge of 
the Light Brigade, Maud, and Enoch Arden. 

4. He was always very thoughtful and frequently very 
sad, though kind and loving. He was not very sociable and 
had few intimate friends. The people of England loved him 
as we love our poet, Longfellow. At the death of Words- 
worth (1850), he was made Poet Laureate of England. 

5. Illness and old age. 

II. The Atmosphere. 

1 and 2. Crossing the Bar was written a few years be- 
fore he died. One October morning in 1889, he drove to 
Aldsworth by the seaside. There he heard the "moaning of 
the bar" which was still on his mind when he returned to his 
home in Farringford. He was not very well and went to bed. 
His nurse was sitting by his bedside sharing to a # degree the 
general anxiety about the patient when she suddenly said 
to him, "You have written a great many poems, sir, but I 
have never heard anybody say that there is a hymn among 
them all. I wish, sir, you would write a hymn while you are 
lying on your sick bed; it might help and comfort many a 
poor sufferer." 

The next morning, when the nurse had taken her quiet 



Vocal Interpretation of Literature 159 

place at the bedside, the poet handed her a scrap of paper, 
saying, "Here is the hymn you wished me to write." She 
took the paper from his hands with expressions of grateful 
thanks. It proved to be Crossing the Bar. 

The entire poem had flashed on his mind in a moment. 
The hymn was sung at his funeral, and he requested that it 
be always placed at the end of all editions of his poems. 

3. Tennyson had gained a great personal victory over 
doubt and throughout his life had always expressed a pro- 
found faith in the immortality of the soul; not a blind faith, 
but a personal assurance that left not the least doubt in his 
mind. 

4. This hope he desired to impress on all those who 
were to pass through the ."boundless deep" as he had. It is 
profoundly emotional. 

5. I wonder if I am as trusting as Tennyson? I re- 
member once when I was sick and thought I was going to 
die, etc. 

III. General Analysis. 

1. The poem is a philosophical lyric. 

2. The theme is Faith. 

3. He compares his soul to a ship, which is about to sail 
into the Infinite Personality. Death is the Bar; the moan- 
ing is Fear and Doubt; the Pilot is that Divine and Unseen 
who is always guiding us. 

4. No. All four stanzas may be considered as one para- 
graph. 

5. When I die it will be with the calm assurance that I 
shall meet God face to face. 

6. The meter is in the main iambic tetrameter. The 
occasional spondaic foot and the irregular number of feet 
to the verse, and now and then a catalectic verse may be 
suggestive of the sentiment expressed. 

7 and 8. This selection does not lend itself to imagery 
as many do ; but there comes to us a picture of a ship ready 
to sail, with the waves at rest, and no dashing of angry 



160 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

waves against the shore. Also that of a dying man. The 
noise of the waves is auditory. The other images are visual. 

IV. Detailed Analysis. 

1, % and 3. (Obviously a detailed statement is not neces- 
sary in this suggestive outline.) 

4. Especially the following words and phrases should be 
appropriately colored: Clear call, moaning, moving seems 
asleep, too full, deep, and dark. 

V. Mechanical Aids. 

Sunset and eveliirig star, i 

And one cle~ar call for me! II 
And may there be| no moaning of the bar I 

When 7|put out to sea. I 

But such a tide as moving seems asleep,! 

Too full for sound and fdam v , I 
When that which drew from out the boundless deep I 

Turns again home\ III 

Twilight and evening bell,! 

And after that the dar£!ll v 

And may there be no sadness of farewell 

When I embark. I 

For though from out the bourne of Time and Place 

The flood may bear me far," I 
I hope to see my Pilot face to face I 

When Illhave crossedllthe bar". 

VI. Expression. 
1. Low key. 

% Slow movement; and with some passages, as "moving 
seems asleep," still slower. 

3. Medium degree. There is no suggestion of any un- 
usual excitement, agony, or suffering. 

4. A spiritual, meditative quality, and with intense tone- 
coloring. 

5. The first sentence has a medium pitch, followed with 
a long downward slide, including the next two lines. This 
selection demands a great variety of pitch and long inflec- 



Vocal Interpretation of Literature 161 

tional slides. Appropriately express the triumphant tone 
in the last two lines. 

6. Change of pitch can best be expressed vocally. 

(Do not be satisfied with such a selection until it has been 
thoroughly memorized and read over many, many times in prac- 
tice by each pupil.) 

SOME GENERAL SUGGESTIONS 

If there be adequate analysis of a selection for the 
thought, the reader should naturally convey the thought 
without undue effort, or straining for effect, or conscious 
attention to the mechanism of speech. We are speaking 
now, of course, of synthetic reading, and not of the pre- 
liminary or incidental training for skill and facility in tech- 
nique. But however much, or little, practice in vocal tech- 
nique one may have had, good reading, it will readily be 
granted by all, requires that the reader give us the thought. 
And whenever a pupil does not do that, the teacher must 
needs recall to his mind this primary requisite by such 
queries and suggestions as,' "What is the thought here?" 
"You do not make us see this picture." "Explain this to 
me in your own words, without reference to the language the 
author uses." Thus must the pupil's attention be directed, 
again and again, to the fact that words in themselves are 
meaningless until he gets from them the author's thought, 
and that even then they are meaningless to a hearer until he 
(the reader) conveys the meaning. 

What test shall be applied in determining if the reader 
"conveys the meaning" ? We say that one should read "nat- 
urally." And what do we mean by that? Simply that a 
reader should use the same meaning of imparting and im- 
pressing thought that he uses in ordinary conversation. It 
should be his best conversation, to be sure, and even then 
one's "natural" method of talking can be vastly improved; 
but the point is this : in good reading there should be no 
noticeable departure from the animated directness, variety, 



162 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

and spontaneity of one's best method of talking. What 
proportion of our teachers of reading keep this fact in mind 
as a guiding principle? And is it true as it is often asserted, 
that if a reader comprehends thoroughly the thought to be 
conveyed, he will read "naturally"? Listen to the college 
graduate read from a newspaper, or a college professor 
reading his lectures, or a preacher reading Scripture ox a 
hymn, or an author, it may be, reading from his own works, 
and note the wide departure from clearness and discrimi- 
nateness, effectiveness and naturalness. And yet, in the 
cases cited, the readers know, we must assume, the thought 
they would convey. Mere mechanical reading must be 
avoided. The mechanics of oral expression must always be 
used as a means, not an end. Over-much talk about enun- 
ciation, inflection, emphasis, etc., is not advisable on general 
principles. Individual cases need specific remedies'. "The 
trouble with most of our reading is that it dissociates itself 
entirely from any relation with conversation, whereas it is 
precisely the same spontaneous thinking that makes both 
intelligent," says Professor Clark in his treatise on How to 
Teach Reading. 

The natural, or conversational method of reading is fre- 
quently impeded by the mechanical directions of the teacher. 
Proper position, however, must not be entirely neglected. 
The pupil should always face the class. If this practice 
were begun in the first grades and continued through the 
high school, stage fright would be a thing of the past. The 
book should be held easily in the left hand, and held high 
enough that the head may be held erect. The throat muscles 
must never be restricted by bending the head over the book. 
The student should read to the audience and not to himself. 
His eyes should play back and forth from the page to the 
audience, not just glance up occasionally, as if to make 
sure that the audience had not all slipped from the room. 
The head should be held erect so that in looking straight at 
the audience, all that is necessary is to move the eye and 



Vocal Interpretation of Literature 163 

not the head. This practice will be a great help in carrying 
out the basic principle that the most effective reading is 
simply heightened conversation. 

The following quotation from Professor Corson from his 
book entitled, The Voice and Spiritual Education, seems 
very pertinent: "What chiefly affects a cultivated hearer, 
in 'elocution' is the conspicuous absence of spiritual as- 
similation on the part of the reader. At best, he voices 
only what the eye of an ordinary reader should take in, and 
leaves the all-important part to the face, arms, legs, and 
various attitudes of the body. But the spiritual in litera- 
ture must be addressed to the ear. . . . Reading is not 
acting. It is the acting which usually accompanies the 
reading or recitation of the professional elocutionist which 
cultivated people especially dislike. When they wish to see 
acting, they prefer going to the theatre. When they listen 
to reading, they want serious interpretative vocalization; 
only that and nothing more is necessary, unless it be a spon- 
taneous and graceful movement of the hands, occasionally, 
as one makes in animated conversation." 



PART TWO 
PUBLIC SPEAKING 



CHAPTER I 
GENERAL OBSERVATIONS 

Introduction. Dr. Charles W. Eliot, President Emeri- 
tus of Harvard University, in a recent address said : "The 
primary characteristic of an educated man is his ability to 
speak and to write his own language effectively. Never in 
the history of the country has there been a time when oral 
address has had so much use and influence as it has to-da}'." 

Two little children if reared alone in a forest would invent 
some means of communication. Their language, like the 
language of the savage, would be, for the most part, by 
means of vocal inflections and gestures ; since these have 
always expressed sensations and emotions. Ideas are ex- 
pressed by articulate words, and the savage does not have 
many ideas. We should master at least one language. Some 
men can write and speak sixty and even seventy languages ; 
but, it is .very doubtful if you have ever heard the names of 
these men. It is far more important that you learn to mas- 
ter one language so that you can write and speak it with 
clearness, force and elegance. 

Definition. Public Speaking differs from Oral Reading 
in that the language of the speaker is his own. The ar- 
rangement of the thought expressed is also left to the 
speaker. 

The first essential is that the speaker acquire and main- 
tain the right notion about speaking — the right mental 
attitude toward the message and his audience. Remember 
that speaking is simply talking to an assembly of individuals. 
It is presumed that you have something to say to such an 

167 



168 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

assembly. You must know clearly and understand thor- 
oughly what you have to say and then you must convey your 
own thoughts and emotions to the minds of your hearers. 
In other words, the same principle that was laid down for 
reading applies to speaking: Get the thought, give the 
thought. 

General Preparation. The ability to get the thought 
and to give the thought most effectively does not come by a 
wish or the sway of a fairy's wand. It comes through "in- 
spiration, respiration, and perspiration." Who has not 
listened to some eloquent speaker who mastered, his audi- 
ence, held them spell-bound by his knowledge and power, 
and has not said, "Oh, I would give almost anything if I 
could only speak like that !" But do not think for a moment 
that that man has not passed through years of preparation. 
Beecher, when once asked how long it took him to prepare a 
certain sermon, replied, "Twenty years." 

Knowledge. First of all have something to say. Who 
cares to listen to a man who does not know what he is talk- 
ing about? Socrates struck a fundamental key-note in de- 
livery when he said, "all men are sufficiently eloquent in that 
which they understand." Men everywhere listened to Christ. 
Wherever he went a multitude followed him, "for he spake 
as one having authority." The man who is the greatest bore 
in modern society is the walking phonograph. All that is 
necessary to start him going is to touch a spring, and lo, 
like Tennyson's brook — 

Men may come and men may go, 
But I go on forever. 

When he has once said all he knows, he starts all over again. 
Lowell suggested this addition to the Beatitudes, "Blessed 
is he who hath nothing to say — and cannot be persuaded to 
say it" 



General Observations 169 

Vocabulary. Secondly, an adequate vocabulary is abso- 
lutely essential so that this knowledge can be expressed 
clearly and adequately. Every workman must have good 
serviceable tools ; every orator must, likewise, have his tools 
— good serviceable words. A large vocabulary is needed to 
enable the speaker to express shades of meaning and to in- 
sure variety and force in expression. Says Professor Palmer 
in his Self -Cultivation in English: 

Why, then, do we hesitate to swell our words to meet our 
needs? It is a nonsense question. There is no reason. We are 
simply lazy ; too lazy to make ourselves comfortable. We let 
our vocabularies be limited, and get along rawly without the 
refinements of human intercourse, without refinements in our 
own thoughts; for thoughts are almost as dependent on words 
as words on thoughts. For example, all exasperation we lump 
together as "aggravating/' not considering whether they may 
not rather be displeasing, annoying, offensive, disgusting, irri- 
tating, or even maddening; and without observing, too, that in 
our reckless usage we have burned up a word which might be 
convenient when we should need to mark some shading of the 
word "increase." Like the bad cook, we seize the frying pan 
whenever we need to fry, broil, roast, or stew, and then we won- 
der why all our dishes taste alike while in the next house the 
food is appetizing. It is all unnecessary. Enlarge the vocab- 
ulary. Let any one who wants to see himself grow, resolve to 
adopt two new words each week. It will not be long before the 
endless and enchanting variety of the world will begin to re- 
flect itself in his speech, and in his mind as well. I know that 
when we use a word for the first time we are startled, as if a 
firecracker went off in our neighborhood. We look about hastily, 
to see if any one has noticed. But finding that no one has, we 
may be emboldened. A word used three times slips off the 
tongue with entire naturalness. Then it is ours forever, and 
with it some phase of life which had been lacking hitherto. y 

Diction. The workman must have tools, but without a 
knowledge of the use of these tools he might do more harm 
than good. Many a man has wounded his friend by speak- 
ing a word which he did not know how to use properly ; and 
many a political speaker has harmed his cause more than 



170 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

he helped it, by an improper use of words and combinations 
of words which were not understood as he intended. 

Read the best books and magazines ; listen to good 
speeches ; get the dictionary habit ; study synonyms ; write 
out carefully whatever you put on paper. Accuracy of ex- 
pression comes only through careful, persistent practice. 
This is Benjamin Franklin's testimony: 

About this time I met with an odd volume of the Spectator. 
It was the third. I had never before seen any of them. I 
bought it, read it over and over, and was much delighted with 
it. I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to 
imitate it. With this view I took some of the papers, and, mak- 
ing short hints of the sentiment in each sentence, laid them by 
a few days, and then, without looking at the book, tried to com- 
plete the papers again, by expressing each hinted sentiment at 
length, and as fully as it had been expressed before, in any 
suitable words that should come to hand. 

Then I compared my Spectator with the original, discovered 
some of my faults, and corrected them. But I found I wanted 
a stock of words, or a readiness in recollecting and using them, 
which I thought I should have acquired before that time if I 
had gone on making verses; since the continual occasion for 
words of the same import, but of different length, to suit the 
measure, or of different sound for the rhyme, would have laid 
me under a constant necessity of searching for variety, and also 
have tended to fix that variety in my mind, and make me master 
of it. Therefore I took some of the tales and turned them into 
verse, and, after a time, when I had pretty well forgotten the 
prose, turned them back again. 

Practice. Lose no opportunity to speak. Ease, ac- 
curacy, force are the result of practice. Whenever called 
upon, speak. But be sure you are well prepared and stop as 
soon as you are no longer interesting. Join some literary 
society and never neglect to carry out your part of the 
program. Let it be known in your school and community 
that you are a man that can be depended upon to carry 
out his share of the program and you will soon have many 



General Observations 171 

opportunities to speak. 

It was a cardinal principle with Fox that to reach and 
maintain perfection it was necessary to speak constantly; 
and referring to this he said, "During five whole sessions I 
spoke every night but one, and I regret that I did not speak 
that night too !" 

Henry Clay, handicapped in his youth by an imperfect 
education, attributed his success in life to the habit of daily 
reading and speaking the contents of some historical or 
scientific book. "It is to this early practice of the art of 
all arts," he used to say, "that I am indebted for the pri- 
mary and leading impulses that stimulated my progress and 
have shaped and molded my entire destiny." 

Sargent S. Prentiss testifies that he owed more to early 
practice in a debating society than to any other form of 
discipline. In a letter to his brother he wrote: "Let me 
particularly recommend you to cultivate the faculty of ex- 
pressing your own ideas in the best and most effective 
manner. . . . There are hundreds and perhaps thousands 
of men in the United States who exceed Henry Clay in 
information on all subjects; but his superiority consists in 
the power and adroitness with which he brings his informa- 
tion to bear. I would again praise before any other ac- 
quisition that of expressing forcibly and with ease any idea 
which the mind may contain. This faculty is attained with 
difficulty in after-life, but with ease at college, and nowhere 
so well as in the debating societies of such institutions." 

Special Preparation. Never rely wholly on your gen- 
eral preparation. Always make the best special prepara- 
tion your time and skill will permit. Demosthenes spent 
so many weeks and even months over his speeches that his 
enemies said they smelt of the lamp. It was Lincoln who 
said, "I always assume that my audiences are in many 
things wiser than I am, and I say the most sensible thing 
I can to them." 



172 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Subject. When you are given a choice of subject, be 
careful to select one suited to the occasion, and one you can 
present creditably to your audience. It should not be too 
general as, Democracy, Nature, Education, Freedom, etc. 
It must be within your own experience and the comprehen- 
sion of the audience. Select a topic of which you already 
know something; some topic in which you are deeply inter- 
ested; some topic upon which you can tell something that is 
new or at least has not been rehashed a hundred times to the 
same audience. As one social worker advised a young min- 
ister when he invited him to address the inmates of a local 
prison, "Please don't preach on the prodigal son ; that is all 
they have heard for the last six months." If possible, speak 
on one small phase of a general subject. 

Analyze Your Subject. After having decided on the 
subject take a mental inventory of what you know about it 
— think it through. Read your own mind before you read 
what others have said. If you do not you will become a mere 
parrot. Think out the main divisions of your speech and 
the subdivisions. Write them down. Attempt a logical 
arrangement when this tentative outline and mental analysis 
is completed. 

Gather Definite Material. Consult such books and maga- 
zines as bear directly on the subject. A modern, standard 
encyclopedia will be helpful in gaining a general view -of 
many biographical, political, historical, and scientific sub- 
jects, but ordinarily an encyclopedia treats a subject only 
in its broad outlines. The World and Tribune almanacs, 
issued annually, contain many detailed facts relating to 
national and state governments, to general, commercial, in- 
dustrial, and political statistics, and to abstracts of current 
events and legislation. The Congressional Record gives the 
proceedings of Congress, and Jones's Finding List shows 
where, in the various government publications, different sub- 
jects are discussed. On questions of the day, Poole's Index 



General Observations 173 

to Periodical Literature should be consulted for references 
to magazine articles, etc. ; the Cumulative Index to Periodical 
Literature contains titles of leading review and magazine 
articles for the previous month ; and Jones's Index to Legal 
Periodical Literature contains titles on legal, political, and 
constitutional subjects. 

In the field of history Larned's History for Ready Ref- 
erence and Topical Reading is a very useful compilation of 
historical and biographical topics ; and Channing and Hart's 
Guide to the Study of American History contains a com- 
plete bibliography of United States history, together with 
suggestions to aid the investigator in his search for books 
pertaining to his subject. 

References in the fields of politics, economics, and soci- 
ology are Bowker and Iles's Readers 9 Guide in Economic, 
Social, and Political Science, a classified bibliography of 
American, English, French, and German works, with de- 
scriptive notes ; The Annual Register, a review of public 
events at home and abroad, containing summaries of foreign 
politics ; The Statesman's Year-Book, & statistical and his- 
torical annal of the states of the world ; McPherson's Hand- 
book of Politics, a record, issued biennially, of important 
political action, legislative and executive, national and 
state; and Bliss's Encyclopedia of Social Reforms, an ex- 
position of the leading social questions of the day. 

In addition to the foregoing, desired statistics on com- 
merce, banks, debts, shipping, taxes, etc., may be found in 
the Statistical Abstract of the United States, issued an- 
nually by the Bureau of Statistics, Washington ; Poor's 
Manual of Railroads gives statistics of steam and electric 
railways and railway corporations in the United States and 
Canada; and Mulhall's Dictionary of Statistics is a stand- 
ard compilation of statistics for the world. 

In going through a mass of material the student must 
learn to discriminate quickly as to what should be read and 
what should be passed over, — to note at a glance what he 



174 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

wants and what he does not want. Some method in note 
taking should be followed. An excellent plan is to take the 
notes on one side of uniform slips of paper. These can be 
arranged later in a logical order. Always put down the 
page and volume of the magazine or book. You are sure to 
want to refer to it again. 

Final Outline. After spending all the time you can af- 
ford gathering material, make a complete outline. This 
outline will vary with the nature of your subject, the kind 
of public address, the purpose of your speech, the manner 
of delivering it, etc. Usually you will have an Introduction, 
a Body, and a Conclusion. If the speech is very brief — a 
few minutes — and if others have spoken on the same general 
topic, omit the introduction and conclusion. 

Final Preparation. Next write your speech following 
closely your outline, or if it is to be extemporaneous, think 
it through carefully several times, commit to memory the 
outline, and if you are adequately prepared, dive in; you 
never learn to swim by walking along the bank. 

Writing Your Speech. Formal addresses should be writ- 
ten and memorized carefully. They are usually very brief. 
Everybody knows that there are times when one can write 
better than at other times. You must get into a good mood; 
The best way is to read some good author whose style you 
like, just before you start writing your speech. Get up 
early some morning and write. Follow your prepared out- 
line carefully. Before you get through you will find your- 
self getting tired and your inspiration leaving you. Stop. 
Wait a day if you have time, and after hurriedly reading 
what you have written, complete it. Lay this aside for a 
few days. Much that you have written will appear trivial 
to you — leave this out. You may want to take out about 
one-half. Work it over and over. A winning contest ora- 
tion should be gone over at least twenty times. When you 



General Observations 175 

get through revising, it will not look very much like the 
first draft. Do not think that "first impressions are best" 
when you write speeches. 

Read it aloud. Note how it sounds. You will find that 
you are violating the principle of euphony in many places ; 
pick out the offending words and by consulting a book of 
synonyms you will be able to substitute better ones. Read 
it to a friend. He may be able to see defects that escaped 
your notice. 

After it is as perfect as you can make it, memorize it. 

Start Early. This advice may appear unnecessary; but 
the fact remains that more poor speeches are delivered and 
more contests lost because the speaker did not begin in time, 
than because of lack of ability. Begin as early as you can. 
Some college students have been known to have begun their 
orations two years before they expected to enter the contest. 
Again, some students begin memorizing their speeches three 
days before the contest and they wonder why they failed! 
Experience has proved that the man who gets an early start 
is the man who is most likely to win. 

Practical Suggestions. Some pupils have too formal 
an idea of public speaking. They imagine that nothing 
short of a crowded auditorium would do for an audience to 
practice upon. You began extempore, and even the more 
or less formal ways of delivering a speech, in the Kinder- 
garten. When you answered the teacher's questions, you 
were using the extempore or memoriter method. 

Then let it be suggested first of all that the earlier you 
begin this work the better. Your classmates will make a 
very good audience. Pupils in reading in the grades should 
be taught to face the class. If this method were pursued 
throughout the grades and the high school, boys and girls 
would not feel embarrassed when they are obliged to appear 
before a class of students in college. In answering questions 
in the class, observe all the suggestions in this book, — use 



176 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

a clear voice, speak so that you can be heard, speak to the 
point, use the. best style of language you can, and the 
many other qualities necessary for a good speech. 

The teacher will request in connection with your daily 
recitations in English literature, history, chemistry, etc., 
that you make reports upon certain specific topics. Make it 
a point to use this as an opportunity for practice, for ef- 
fectiveness. Strive to hold the attention of every boy and 
girl. Make that report as interesting and instructive as you 
can. In giving these reports always face the class and 
speak from notes, or follow some other method of delivering 
a speech. It is presumed, however, that those who read this 
book will have a special class in Reading or Speaking. In 
that event, the exercises following each chapter will be 
helpful. 

Organize and take an active interest in some debating 
society, or public speaking club. A history club is an ex- 
cellent thing for high school boys and girls. This will give 
you an excellent opportunity to prepare and deliver a more 
elaborate address and to an appreciative audience. Enter 
all contests in public speaking to which you are eligible. 
Suppose you do lose out. Try again next time and make 
better preparation; and if you do the chances will be that 
you will win. If you win, do not rest on your oars ; there 
are new, greater, and more difficult victories ahead of you; 
make ready for them. If you lose, whatever else you do, do 
not become discouraged. 

The Length of a Speech. You may be able to judge 
accurately the passing of time when some one else is speak- 
ing; but you are inclined to forget all about time when you, 
yourself, are on the floor. Usually, yes, nine times out of 
ten, the speaker talks too long — he overruns the time set by 
the program. Make up your mind that you will be the 
one of the ten who never will. 

When you are asked to speak ten minutes, speak ten min- 






General Observations 177 

utes ; if five minutes, speak five minutes. Go over your 
speech enough times so that you know precisely what you 
can say and what you must omit. Again, if you are ex- 
pected to speak ten minutes, do not say almost anything 
just to fill out the time. Your aim should be: How much 
can I crowd into my ten-minute limit? If you desire to be 
a popular speaker, there are two things you must never lose 
sight of: (1) observe strictly the time limit; (2) be depend- 
able. If you are scheduled to appear upon a certain pro- 
gram, be there. Here are a few commandments for the pub- 
lic speaker: 

"Stand up, so you can be seen; speak up, so you can be 
heard ; shut up, so you will be liked." 

The second is like unto the first: 

"Say it in as few words as you can; when you have said 
it hold your tongue." 

Stage-Fright. It is quite impossible to diagnose that 
common malady known as stage-fright. Usually it afflicts 
the speaker during the first few seconds, or first few min- 
utes, of his speech. Most speakers have it, in varying de- 
grees. Preachers tell us, for example, that even after long 
experience, they never begin their weekly sermons without 
the most intense nervousness. True, experiences vary. 
Gladstone, when asked if he never became nervous before 
speaking, said that he often did in opening a debate, but 
never in replying. Says Sir John Byers in The British 
Medical Journal of recent date: 

No great orator has ever lived who did not feehvery nervous 
before rising to his feet. I have often seen the legs of one of 
the most effective and heart-stirring speakers in the House of 
Lords, to whom that assembly never failed to listen, shake like 
an aspen leaf during the delivery of the first few sentences of his 
speech ; and should the young speaker feel his tongue grow twice 
too big for his mouth, and curl itself inextricably round one of 
his canine teeth, he may console himself with the conviction that 



178 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

he possesses one at least of the characteristic qualities of a great 
speaker. 

An amusing feature of this matter is, that young speakers 
are apt to think that they are the only ones that become 
seriously embarrassed. And right here is the lesson : trained 
speakers learn to control their embarrassment. It should 
be remembered that a nervous tension, if brought under con- 
trol, may prove a help rather than a hindrance to the 
speaker, for it puts a nerve-force into his delivery that 
might otherwise be wanting. How attain that control? 
There is no way but through practice in speaking to audi- 
ences. Continued practice, if it does not eliminate all em- 
barrassment, gradually does reduce the earlier terrors. The 
practice should, of course, be directed along right lines. 
Nervousness may be aided much by a feeling of mental and 
physical preparedness. Have the speech thoroughly in hand 
long enough beforehand to give both mind and body a rest. 
Students often make the mistake of worrying over a speech 
up to the very moment of its delivery. This method is 
suicidal. Even speakers of experience sometimes fail to 
realize how much the success or failure of a speech depends 
upon physical conditions. To undergo the severe nervous 
strain of public speaking, mind and body should be fresh. 
The day preceding an athletic event the trained contestant 
either rests or exercises very moderately. So, if a speech is 
to be given at night, say, the speaker should wholly lay it 
aside during the afternoon and go for a walk or go to sleep 
— do anything but exhaust faculties that will be needed in 
the evening. , 

Control is also effected through the communicative, con- 
versational attitude, as one rises to speak, and by an exer- 
cise of the will. A good plan is to take a few deep breaths. 
Give your nerves plenty of oxygen and you will not feel so 
shaky. Certain drugs are sometimes prescribed by phy- 
sicians to steady the nerves by equalizing the circulation, 



General Observations 179 

but these should be avoided. Rather cultivate self-con- 
fidence. 

Self-fear is quite as often a cause of stage-fright as is a 
fear of the audience. Encourage a feeling that you and 
your audience are getting on well together. Self-confidence 
is not undue conceit, or "brag, brass, and bluster" ; it is 
having the courage of one's convictions. It is that self- 
reliance which enables one to rise to the occasion. It is that 
confidence which leads the speaker to say to himself, "I know 
what I want to say and I am able to say it." 

Study and Practice. Like every other art, public 
speaking demands long-continued -study and practice. The 
most proficient always feel there is room for improvement; 
and like other things in life, if one is earnestly striving to 
reach an ideal, there is hope for him; if he thinks he has 
reached it, he is lost. The complex art of public address 
cannot be learned quickly, and should never be taken up as 
a plaything. If you expect to be a speaker, make a business 
of the study, as you would of anything else worth learning. 
Do not dabble in it. A little dabbling with the technique 
given in this book is useless. It is because we have so many 
dabblers that we have so many bunglers. And by way of 
repetition, — do not expect to correct in a month a fault 
that is the habit of years. Certain incurable defects may be 
fatal, certain natural qualities are desirable, though not 
indispensable; the rest is work, — thorough preparation and 
continual practice. 

The drill on technique and the daily practice on some 
speech may be irksome, but the student should undertake it 
as he does any other task, — do it and make it count for 
something. If you have a declamation, an oration, or an 
argument to deliver, drill on the oral presentation. Speak 
to an imaginary audience. Invite your friends in and com- 
pel them to listen. Do not be afraid of drilling too much. 
Students often talk about getting "stale" who do not even 



180 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

enunciate clearly. An expert in technique to criticize and 
suggest is desirable, but not indispensable. Sometimes a 
friend who is not over-fastidious, has no dogmatic stand- 
ards, and can judge of general effectiveness, is the most 
valuable sort of critic. Take all the advice offered and — 
do not always act on it. A little experience will enable you 
to judge of its value; you will soon learn to know your lead- 
ing faults yourself; and unless you are to surrender your 
individuality, you must be the final judge. And then, when 
the occasion arrives, put your technique in the background ; 
let mental and moral earnestness be the predominant proc- 
esses ; and let the practice in technique unconsciously repeat 
itself in the final effort. Do not fail to make conscientious 
and thorough preparation for all those occasions, so fre- 
quent under the conditions of American life and government, 
when you will be called upon to speak: and thereby make 
general preparation for those times, unforeseen yet also 
frequent — those social or political crises in the affairs of a 
community, a State, or a Nation — when the public speaker 
must create, mould, and direct public opinion that conduces 
to right thinking and right acting. 

EXERCISES 

I. Select five subjects appropriate for addresses to a 
group of high school boys urging them to attend college. 

II. Select five subjects appropriate for addresses to "a 
group of high school girls urging them to attend college. 

III. Suppose you were invited to address the Business 
Men's Club of your city; select five appropriate topics. 

IV. Select five subjects for each of the following oc- 
casions : 

1. A group of high school boys urging them to at- 
tend. 

A a business school; B an agricultural college. 

2. A group of high school girls urging them to attend 



General Observations 181 

A a business school; B a school of household sci- 
ence. 

3. The young people's society in your church. 

4. The Mothers' Club in your city. 

5. The Local Grange. 

6. High School Commencement. 

7. Soldiers' Reunion. 

8. Alumni Association. 

9. The County Medical Association. 

10. The County Bar Association. 

11. The Local Labor Union. 

IS. The State Bankers' Association. 

V. Get twenty references on one of the above subjects 
from various periodicals and other sources mentioned in the 
text. 

VI. Determine your reading, writing, and speaking vo- 
cabulary. 

Take a dictionary and count the words on every fiftieth 
page, 1, those you understand, 2, those you could use in 
writing, 3, those with which you are very familiar — your 
speaking vocabulary. 

Then multiply each of these b}^ fifty and you will approxi- 
mate the number of words in 3 T our various vocabularies. 

VII. Study synonyms. Memorize five synonyms for 
each of the following words : Answer, apart, ascend, awful, 
beauty, better, cheer, clear, compel, delight, direct, emerge, 
hope, infer, inspect, mean, plain, respect, stingy, strong, 
true, use, vague, wise, wish. 

VIII. Memorize five antonvms to each of the words listed 
in No. VII. 

IX. Make another list of twenty-five words and give five 
synonyms and five antonyms to each of these. 

X. Use the following words correctly in sentences : 
Anger, fury, indignation; ask, inquire, interrogate; bait, 

allurement, temptation; begin, commence, initiate; bewail, 
lament, deplore ; bewitch, enchant, fascinate ; bid, offer, pro- 



182 Oral Reading and Public Speaking j 

pose; birth, nobility, aristocracy; blessing, benison, benedic- 
tion; bloody, murderous, sanguinary; blue, azure, cerulean; 
body, company, corporation ; bold, brave, resolute ; boldness, 
courage, fortitude; boldness, impudence, audacity; bough, 
branch, ramification; bow, obeisance, salutation; breed, en- 
gender, propagate ; bright, luminous, incandescent ; bright, 
brilliant, effulgent ; bright, cheerful, animated ; brink, verge, 
margin; bulk, size, magnitude; burdensome, oppressive, on- 
erous ; busy, engaged, occupied ; care, anxiety, solicitude ; 
choice, preference, predilection; cold, indifferent, apathetic; 
craft, subtlety, artifice; dear, precious, valuable; deem, sur- 
mise, apprehend; downfall, destruction, demolition; draw, 
allure, attract; dread, dismay, consternation; dull, stupid, 
obtuse. 

XI. The first words of the following series are domesti- 
cated old words of Romanesque origin, and the last words 
are Latin and Greek derivatives of recent and scholastic 
introduction. Let each student be assigned a part or all of 
this list and ( 1 ) state the distinction, if any, in the meaning 
of each duplicate, (2) decide which word is preferable, and 
(3) bring in sentences either choosing between the two words 
or using both in the same sentence. 

Adroitness, dexterity ; agreed, unanimous ; aim, scope ; as- 
sail, impugn; banishment, exile; box, chest; calm, quiet; 
calumny, defamation ; chain, concatenation ; change, altera- 
tion ; comfort, console ; company, society ; copy, transcribe ; 
decay, decadence; discern, discriminate; discovery, detec- 
tion; dissemble, dissimulation; envious, invidious; exact, ex- 
tort ; exact, precise ; feign, simulate ; guerdon, remunera- 
tion ; haughty, supercilious ; inquest, inquisition ; invective, 
diatribe ; leisure, vacation ; mean, pusillanimous ; number, 
enumerate; plot, conspiracy; poison, venom; porch, vesti- 
bule; praise, eulogy (or panegyric); pray, supplicate; re- 
proach, opprobrium; restrain, inhibit; revere, venerate; 
revolt, rebellion ; sample, example ; sense, consciousness ; 
silent, reticent (or taciturn) ; slander, defamation; training, 



General Observations 183 

discipline ; try, attempt ; unavoidable, inevitable ; valid, con- 
clusive; vanishing, evanescent; variety, diversification; 
venal, mercenary ; vex, irritate ; vie, emulate ; voluble, fluent ; 
wait, attend. 



CHAPTER II 

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS— THE AUDIENCE 

There are three distinct factors involved in Public Speak- 
ing: (1) The Audience, (2) The Speech, and (8) The 
Speaker. In other words, The Occasion, The Oration, and 
The Orator; or to whom you speak, what, and how. 

General Characteristics. The orator prepares and 
delivers his speech for the sole purpose of influencing *a body 
of men and women. It is, therefore, essential that he have 
some knowledge of the crowd he expects to influence. The 
greater the knowledge of the audience, the greater his 
chances for success. Upon the audience depend both the 
orator and the oration. The audience is the, objective 
point ; it is the determining and guiding influence. 

The speaker must know not only human nature in the 
individual, but human nature in the aggregate. The col- 
lective mind has certain attributes which differ from the 
individual mind. A man in the crowd thinks and acts dif- 
ferently from the man alone. Arguments which might con- 
vince a man in the street might be wholly ineffectual when 
presented from a platform to a large crowd. Men in a 
crowd think in terms of the race. Like a chemical, the 
compound is different from the separate elements composing 
it. Strange as it may appear at first thought, even men and 
women are not influenced in the same manner. Women are 
the conservators of the race more than are the men. Each 
woman is the embodiment of the specific characteristics at- 
tributed to the crowd. The individual woman is much more 
like a crowd all by herself than the individual man. A man 

184 



Essential Elements — The Audience 185 

by himself must be convinced, you must reason with him, and 
the more intellectual he is the more dependence must be 
placed on arguments to cause him to act. Women are by 
nature more emotional than men, and when alone can be 
persuaded to act by arousing the emotions rather than by 
appealing to reason. From this it must be concluded that 
whatever would persuade the individual woman would per- 
suade the crowd. And it is generally admitted that this is 
not an easy task. 

A few of the more specific attributes of the ordinary audi- 
ence of interest to the orator are : 

I. Conservatism. The attitude of the audience toward 
a speaker is like that of a man from Missouri — he needs to 
be shown. It demands that the speaker establish his con- 
tention. It reserves the right to remain neutral until con- 
vinced and persuaded to think and act otherwise. From 
fundamental and basic principles the crowd is not easily 
moved, but it can be moved easily along these lines. Hence 
the speaker should always appeal to such basic traditional 
sentiments as home, love, life, revenge, the flag, etc. The 
crowd far more than the individual is influenced by the un- 
conscious substratum formed by heredity. The crowd de- 
lights to hark back through the ages, and answer the "call 
of the wild." The crowd is always a generation or two be- 
hind the reformer. 

II. Irresponsibility. The crowd mind does not feel any 
individual responsibility. Selfism disappears. It seems to 
feel that whatever it does will be justified by the community, 
by society; for the entire community appears to be a com- 
mon participant. 

III. Suggestibility. The audience is usually in a recep- 
tive mood and shows a readiness to entertain suggestions 
from a leader — the orator. What one does, all are likely 
to participate in. The crowd is as easily led to do heroic 



186 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

deeds as cowardly ones, This mobility is manifest only in 
transient matters. On hereditary and racial matters it is 
conservative. The crowd mind, in many respects, resembles 
a person hypnotized. Suggestion, if properly made, is 
equivalent to action, especially if made by the operator — 
the orator; except in matters of traditional and vital im- 
portance to the race. 

IV. Intelligence. The audience, is never so intelligent as 
the average members composing it. It possesses rather 
those attributes which might be called the highest common 
factor of the attributes of the individual members. The 
crowd reasons very little. The orator must ever remember 
that the audience never thinks more than is necessary. 

V. Imagination. What the crowd lacks in reasoning is 
supplied by a vivid imagination. Childlike, it reasons little, 
but revels in the concrete image ; it delights in pictures — 
word pictures. It demands simplicity. Imagery is the key 
word which unlocks the crowd mind. The tremendous suc- 
cess of the moving picture shows attests this fact. Hence 
the value of figures of speech in an oration. All things seem 
possible to the crowd; to a vivid imagination there is no 
such word as failure. Impossibility is not in the vocabulary 
of the crowd. 

VI. Exaggeration. Because of this power of imagina- 
tion, the crowd always exaggerates, personifies. It deifies a 
hero. It demands virtues in its characters on the stage that 
the individual does not demand on the street. The speaker 
must satisfy this characteristic of the crowd by expressing 
himself with no uncertain emphasis. Actors always "make 
up" so that under the glare of the electric lights their faces 
will appear natural. So the speaker never hesitates to ex- 
aggerate a fact from the platform. He must paint a crime, 
or a sin in the most Stygean colors so that it will appear 
natural to the audience. This exaggeration from the plat- 



Essential Elements — The Audience 187 

form is not compromising with the truth; for if the plain 
matter of fact truth be told from the platform, it will not 
be truthful when interpreted by the audience — for the crowd 
will always underestimate, will always discount what it 
hears. The orator should not hesitate to paint evil as black 
as possible, nor virtue as white. 

VII. Impatience. Childlike, a crowd must do some- 
thing. It is restless. It demands action, and it desires an 
expression of this attribute in the speaker. The orator must 
not stop to rest ; he must keep his audience busy. Attention 
cannot be long sustained on one point. Variety, therefore, 
must be the watchword of the speaker. 

VIII. Leadership. The crowd desires to be led, and 
cringes at the feet of the dictator. It respects the strength 
of a master. The type of the hero dear to the crowd will 
always bear the stamp of a Caesar. This call for leadership 
must be supplied by the orator. And the crowd stands 
ready to honor the man who will assume this position. But 
remember, no weakling need apply. The speaker must, 
therefore, prove worthy of this leadership; he must prove 
himself master; the crowd will tolerate no other. How may 
a man qualify for this position? Follow in the footprints 
of those who have gone before. 

A few of the most prominent characteristics of the crowd 
have been suggested. Now let us see how this knowledge 
may be utilized. 

When a group of people assemble, they are all individual 
units. Each is busy with his own thoughts. The speaker 
must follow a simple pedagogical principle of the class reci- 
tation — make all think of the same thing at the same time. 
The speaker must unify the ideas of those gathered to- 
gether. Until this is done, this group of people cannot, 
strictly speaking, be called a "crowd." This constitutes 
the first step of the orator. 



188 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

A number of different methods, or devices, are used to 
accomplish this. One is to have everybody sit close to- 
gether. Each person must become aware of ' the bodily 
presence of his fellows. If one person must touch another, 
so much the better. This bodily contact, this subconscious 
awareness of the presence of other individuals, causes the 
individual to forget self, and to be absorbed with the com- 
mon thought of the crowd. The best speaker in the world 
cannot make much of an impression on an audience com- 
posed of a dozen individuals scattered over a room that 
would hold a thousand. 

A second method often used is to have them all join in 
doing something in concert. Singing a song, reading in 
concert, is a very common device found in our churches, 
and always insisted upon by "revivalists." The ritualism 
used in some of our churches follows this plan. 

A third method of creating a "crowd" spirit is to get all 
the audience to cheer during the first part of the perform- 
ance. This justifies some speakers in their invariable habit 
of telling a humorous story, or making some remark "to 
bring the house down," at the beginning of their speech. 

A fourth method is to present to the audience some idea 
that will strike a "sympathetic cord" and thus create a 
common feeling; something that will impress all the indi- 
viduals in the same way. Such ideas and feelings are 
aroused by using appropriately such words as : Liberty, 
Democracy, Honest toil, Christ, Washington, etc. To refer 
to the glories of our republic, the chivalry of the South, the 
beauty of the ladies present, the grandeur of our great state, 
will always bring a cheer or some expression of approval 
from the audience. 

By various methods a general audience is moulded into a 
crowd by unifying them — having them think of the same 
thing and do the same thing at the same time. 

We cannot enter into a discussion of the psychology of 
action, except to state that when the mind is in possession 



Essential Elements — The Audience 189 

of a single idea it will act. When two or more ideas are 
struggling at the same time for supremacy in the mind, 
there is a confusion and the will refuses to act. Indecision 
is the result of conflicting images. But if there is only one 
dominating idea, one that overshadows all others, and 
thereby practically excludes all others, the result is action. 
One idea and only one should be the watchword of the 
speaker. 

The man who is hypnotized will usually do what the op- 
erator suggests because he has no other thoughts except 
that one. We often hear people say, "I did so and so be- 
cause I did not stop to think." The deed was done because 
there was only one dominant idea and emotion as the result 
of a single impression. If time for reflection had been taken, 
the confusion of ideas would doubtless have prevented 
the act. 

The orator must take the crowd, which, like a child, revels 
in images, draw a picture so lucid and realistic, so clear and 
natural, that the audience sees but one side of the question 
at issue. This is frequently accomplished by presenting 
ideas of home, love, revenge, happiness, virtue, etc. The 
crowd will always respond to strong emotional impulses 
such as fear, pride, sorrow, etc. Remember a crowd should 
be loved into doing what the speaker desires. A second 
thing that the speaker must never forget is that the speaker 
himself must see the pictures he paints and feel the emotions 
he expresses. 

Kinds. Besides observing the attributes of the crowd, 
the orator must consider carefully the various kinds of 
audiences. 

I. Purpose. Crowds assemble for certain definite pur- 
poses : (1) to be entertained, (2) to be informed, (3) to be 
persuaded. Though one purpose predominates, all may be 
present. In any event, the purpose in assembling must be 
respected by the speaker. 



1 90 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

II. Quality. The speaker must also bear in mind the 
quality of his audience, such as nationality, occupation, 
social status, religion, mentality, etc. The message, lan- 
guage, delivery, will vary with each group. Power of adap- 
tation spells success. 

III. Size. You cannot speak to a few in the same man- 
ner as you can to a thousand. The style of delivery, volume, 
action — must be appropriate to the number addressed. 
Preachers often speak to a congregation of fifty in a small 
church with the same volume as though they were addressing 
five thousand in the open air. That may account for the 
fact that some preachers have only an audience of fifty. 
Again, some speak to only a handful on Sunday because 
their voices carry only to about that many. 

IV. Location. Gauge your voice by the size and shape 
of the room and its general acoustic properties. It requires 
less effort to be understood in the Christian Science Temple 
in Boston, seating over 5,000 people, than in many town 
halls seating fifty. The building having the best acoustic 
properties should have the following proportional dimen- 
sions : three times the length equaling four times the width 
equaling six times the height ; that is the length, width, and 
height should be in the ratio of 4 :3 :2. The interior should 
be plain. 

EXERCISES 

I. Study a church audience and report to the class. 
What ideas move the audience? What did you remember 
of the sermon? 

II. Study a street crowd. Note all the general char- 
acteristics. Report to the class. 

III. Why is not the group of boys and girls who gather 
in a room before school begins a "crowd"? 

IV. While waiting for the play to begin, clap your 
hands. How many followed your suggestion? 



Essential Elements — The Audience 191 

V. Why is it difficult to speak when some persons in the 
audience whisper? 

VI. Which is better for the success of a church service, 
a room that is very warm or one that is very cold? 

VII. Why do many political speakers take off their 
coats when they speak? 

VIII. Have you ever heard a speaker use slang? What 
was the immediate effect on the audience? 

IX. Why does an audience always cheer when the 
speaker says, "There are no better people to be found on 
the face of the earth than right here in this city"? 

X. Why are some men cowards when in camp and brave 
on the field of battle? 

XI. On one occasion, when Hon. W. J. Bryan was 
speaking to a packed house, the floor began to sink. The 
crowd was about to stampede from the building when Mr. 
Bryan told them that the plank which gave way could not 
have been a Democratic plank or it would have remained 
firm. The crowd cheered. He then told them to leave the 
building quietly, which they did. Explain in terms of the 
psychology of the crowd. 

XII. In a murder trial, would twelve educated men give 
a different verdict from that of twelve ignorant men? Ex- 
plain. 

XIII. Why does a candidate for office say in his cam- 
paign speeches, "When I am elected, I'll do so and so"; in- 
stead of, "If I am elected I'll do so and so"? 

XIV. Why do doctors who are specialists for the insane 
very frequently become insane themselves? 

XV. Why is it that when we read an advertisement a 
hundred times that X's medicine cures catarrh, we imagine 
that everybody says so? We thus become convinced and 
buy for ourselves. 

XVI. Account for the widespread adoption of certain 
hideous and unsanitary fashions. 

XVII. Account for the popular belief in the unluckiness 



192 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

of the number "13" ; the popularity of the term "cut it out," 
"I should worry," and other street terms. 

XVIII. Why will all the boys of a school "cut classes" 
when one boy alone would not be guilty? 

XIX. Can a group of high school boys and girls be as 
easily led to do a good deed as to do a bad one? 

XX. Which sermon will bring the largest collection for 
the poor, a convincing array of statistics, or a vivid picture 
of poverty taken from life? Illustrate. 

XXI. Enumerate all the ways in which a crowd is like 
a child. Give concrete examples to illustrate your state- 
ments. f!!!f 

XXII. A certain political speaker was a candidate for 
governor of the state. He began his speeches by saying 
that he was an ordinary man ; that he did not consider him- 
self the best nor the worst man in the state ; that he had but 
an ordinary education; was not much of an orator, etc. 
Criticize such addresses from your knowledge of the charac- 
teristics of the crowd. 



CHAPTER III 

ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS— THE SPEECH 

Having a definite audience to address, what shall be said 
and wherewithal shall it be clothed? 

I. Material. Something to say ! This, indeed, is im- 
portant. The audience will overlook many imperfections 
and weaknesses in a speaker, if he brings them a message 
worth while. Many audiences ought to be able to recover 
damages from a speaker for having wasted their timet 

The audience has a right to demand four things as to 
subject matter: 

1. That It Be Truthful. A liar on the platform is as 
little worthy of respect as by the fireside. The audience 
demands of the speaker a greater degree of virtue than is 
required from one in private life. It is not what a man 
thinks on the platform, but what he knows, that receives 
recognition. "The orator is thereby an orator, that he 
keeps his feet ever on a fact. Then only is he invincible," 
says Emerson. Ex-President F. L. Patton of Princeton 
suggests the following as the four essentials for a good 
speech: . "Facts, great facts, human facts, related facts." 

2. That It Be Purposeful. Have a message. Not every 
man can originate new ideas ; but we do demand that the 
speaker express himself in a new and original way. A man 
who can take a commonplace subject and point out to us 
new beauties, and picture to us new relationships and clothe 
them all in an attractive garb will be listened to by the 
world. "Knowledge is power." Always speak to the point. 
Stick to your text. Say what you have to say in the clear- 

193 



194 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

est, briefest, most logical manner possible — and then stop. 
Speakers who aim at nothing invariably hit it. 

S. That It Be Appropriate. Carefully select your ma- 
terial. Do not try to crowd all you know into a five-minute 
speech. Sift out and retain what will be most appropriate 
to that particular audience. The food that cured the 
butcher killed the baker. And many a speaker has figura- 
tively killed himself by not selecting carefully ideas adapted 
to the occasion. Not only must you say what is true, but 
"how and when and where." If people desire entertainment 
and have assembled for that purpose, tell them about funny 
things. If they desire information, satisfy their intellectual 
thirst. If they are there to be aroused to duty, speak to 
them concerning those things which will make each man say, 
as the Athenians said after listening to Demosthenes, "Let 
us march against Phillip." 

4. That It Be Interesting. Material well adapted should 
be interesting. The question to yourself will be, "What is 
it that these people care to know? Are these boys inter- 
ested in the story of David and his sling, or in the genealogy 
of the Gershonites?" Professor J. B. Esenwein relates an 
incident of the frank expression of a small boy who doubtless 
voiced the sentiment of the rest, when he interrupted a long, 
uninteresting Sunday school address by saying, "Oh, pshaw, 
let's sing number thirty-six." "The virtue of books is to be 
readable, of an orator to be interesting," says Emerson. 

II. Style. By Style is meant the manner of wording 
the material of the speech ; the diction of the orator. Some 
of the qualities mentioned in this chapter are not distinc- 
tively oratorical qualities, but belong to all forms of written 
discourse. They are included here for the purpose of com- 
prehensiveness in treatment and by way of review. 

There are four principal attributes of Style: Unity, 
Clearness, Force, and Elegance. 

1. Unity. This term connotes the general form or 



Essential Elements — The Speech 195 

structure of the speech. In order to insure unity, the fol- 
lowing points must be observed: 

A. Outline. Outline everything you write. This is the 
greatest aid in unity. This will insure a logical and climacti- 
cal sequence. Some students prefer to sit down and begin to 
write, putting down the ideas as they happen to come to 
their minds. This haphazard way will never lead to the best 
results. 

B. Proportion. The Introduction should be about one- 
tenth of your speech. The Conclusion should be about one- 
tenth. Do not consume a great portion of your time writ- 
ing or speaking about unimportant matter, so that you will 
not have sufficient time left for the important things. 

C. Sequence. When ideas are arranged in proper or- 
der, they are said to possess logical sequence. One idea 
must naturally grow out of and follow another. Ideas of 
co-ordinate rank should be paralleled. Subordinate ideas 
must be arranged under their proper heads. Without first 
forming an outline, this is impossible. 

D. Coherence. Not only must the ideas be arranged 
logically, but they must be properly joined, connected. 
They must "hang together." Have one central idea in 
your theme, and never lose sight of it. Do not branch off 
on another line entirely. Stick to the main track. There 
should be a continuous thread extending throughout your 
entire product from the first sentence in the introduction 
to the last sentence in the conclusion. 

E. Transitions. Do not make the step from one main 
idea to the other too abrupt. Let one gradually prepare 
for the next. This is a strong point in unity. Sudden 
turns of thought are not conducive to clearness. 

2. Clearness. This is an intellectual quality. It is an 
essential quality in all forms of discourse; but especially 
in the speech. If you do not understand an author the 
first time you read a paragraph, you can read it again, 



196 Oral Reading and Public S 'peaking 

and even again if necessary. But you cannot say to the 
orator, "Stop a moment, please, tell that over again. I 
didn't quite catch your meaning!" And yet how often 
we are tempted to do so. Senator Beveridge once said, 
"As to style, seek only to be clear; nothing else is impor- 
tant." "Clearness at any cost" was the motto of the great 
preacher and thinker, Joseph Cook. Clearness demands: 

A. Clear Thinking. There can be no clear speaking 
without clear thinking. When a thought comes to your 
mind which you desire to express, revolve it in your mind, 
look at it from all angles ; be conscious of the fact that you, 
yourself, understand it. 

B. i Simplicity. A simple style lends to clearness. Do 
not try to show how learned you are by using big words. 
The result will likely be that you will thereby expose your 
ignorance. "Never be grandiloquent when you want to 
drive home a searching truth. Don't whip with a switch 
that has the leaves on, if you want it to tingle," said 
Beecher. But it is not always the size of the word that 
counts. Some long words are more familiar to your audi- 
ence than some short words. Speak on the level and in 
the diction of your audience. It is said of Webster that 
in addressing a jury he never used words he was not rea- 
sonably sure they all understood. 

"Root, hog, or die," is more effective than "Queen City 
quadruped, perforate the mother earth with thy proboscis, 
or forever cease to exist." 

In this famous passage of Sterne, which is said to be the 
most musical in our language, nearly all the words are 
Saxon: 

"The accusing spirit that flew up to Heaven's chancery with 
the oath, blushed as he gave it in, and the recording angel, as he 
wrote it down, dropped a tear upon the words and blotted it out 
forever." 

Rev. Billy Sunday uses this pertinent illustration when 
replying to his critics for the language he uses: 



Essential Elements — The Speech 197 

"Where you put salt it kills the bacteria that cause decay. If 
a man were to take a piece of meat and smell it and look dis- 
gusted, and his little boy were to say, 'What's the matter with it, 
pop?' and he were to say, 'It is undergoing a process of decom- 
position in the formation of new chemical compounds,' the boy 
would be all in. But if the father were to say, 'It's rotten,' then 
the boy would understand and hold his nose. 'Rotten' is a good 
Anglo-Saxon word and you do not have to go to the dictionary to 
find out what it means. Some of you preachers had better look 
out or the devil will get away with some of your members before 
they can find out what you mean by your sermons." 

C. Definiteness. Don't talk all around your subject. 
Go straight to the point. Be exact. Study synonyms and 
learn the precise meanings of words. The motto of the 
speaker must be, "Not that people may understand, but 
that they must." 

In the present hustle and bustle of American life, we do 
not feel that we can afford to listen to men who need an 
hour to say what might be said in five minutes. 

The difference between definiteness and circumlocution is 
illustrated in a conversation between two negroes when one 
asked the other what "a bawn owater" is ? The reply was : 

"Don't you know what a bawn owater is? Why, sah, you and 
I would say, 'Two an' two mak' f o' ' ; but a bawn owater would 
say, 'When in de coase ob human events it becomes nec'sa' or 
exped'ent to coalesce two integers and two moh integers, the re- 
sult — I declah it boldly an' without feah or favah — the result by 
simple arithmetical calculation termed addition is fo'.' That's a 
bawn owater, sah." 

D. Concreteness. This term is opposed to what is ab- 
stract. It usually is the result of the question, "For in- 
stance?" When we desire to make our discourse clear, we 
usually give an illustration. Abstract arguments should 
always be clarified by referring to some specific example — 
an incident, a story. Lincoln was very fond of illustrating 
his points with good stories. Do not indulge continually 
in "platitudes and glittering generalities." Put your ar- 



198 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

gument into "some hard phrase, round and solid as a ball, 
which men can see and handle and carry home." Figures 
of speech are another form of coricreteness. Christ often 
spoke in parables when he desired to make his meaning 
clear. All oratory should contain figures of speech. Avoid 
mixed figures. "The metaphor," said Aristotle, "is the ora- 
tor's figure, the simile is the poet's." 

E. Restatement. Very frequently a sentence may be 
repeated to advantage by telling it again in different words. 
However, it is usually a confession on the part of the 
speaker that he fears he was not very clear in the first 
place. Yet obscure thoughts may be understood by certain 
persons if told one way and by others if told in some other 
manner. 

Example : 

"I do not know where her hair (the hair of a woman of 
fashion) comes from. I could never find out. That is, her other 
hair, her public, her Sunday hair. I do not mean the hair she 
goes to bed with. Why you ought to know the hair I mean. It 
is the thing she calls a switch and which resembles a switch as 
much as it resembles a brick bat or a shot gun, or any other 
thing you correct people with." — Mark Twain. 

3. Force. Force is an emotional quality. It is the 
chief element in persuasion. There are a great many rhetor- 
ical elements which contribute to Force; but the most im- 
portant are: 

A. Strength. A sentence should be strong. This prop- 
erty is obtained by putting the important idea in the sen- 
tence in the most prominent place. This is usually at the 
end; sometimes at the beginning. The last word in a sen- 
tence resounds in the mind of the hearer longer than any 
other, for there is usually a downward inflection and a 
pause at the end. Strength is also acquired by choosing 
words with a definite meaning. The periodic sentence, if not 
used too frequently, often adds strength, 

B. Climax. Words and sentences should be so arranged 



Essential Elements — The Speech 199 

that the weakest come first. When the weakest and least 
important come last, we have what is called an anti-climax. 

Examples : 

a. "I not only did not say this, but I did not even write it; I 
not only did not write it, but took no part in the embassy; I not 
only took no part in the embassy, but used no persuasion with the 
Thebans." 

b. "He was loyal to his family, loyal to his friends, loyal to 
his countrymen, loyal to his God." 

Arrange your speech climactically. Drive home one 
truth after another, each more forceful than the last ; like 
one rill after another, and stream after stream, all flowing 
into a great torrent which bursts into a mighty cataract in 
your conclusion. 

C. Brevity. Brevity is the soul of force. Omit all use- 
less verbiage from your discourse. Still do not trim it so 
as to make it sound choppy. But remember that "a fool 
is known by his multitude of words." This is time of the 
sentence and of the entire speech. Omit conjunctions when- 
ever possible. A short pointed arrow penetrates deepest. 
Southey said, "It is with words as with sunbeams ; the more 
they are condensed, the deeper they burn." Note the vigor 
in this line from Browning: 

Boot, saddle, to horse and away. 

D. Iteration. When words or sentences are very im- 
portant they may be repeated often, adding much to the 
emphasis. It was Mr. Dooley who wrote, "I belave anny- 
thing at all, if ye only tell it to me often enough." Napo- 
leon said that there was only one figure in rhetoric of much 
importance — repetition. The thing affirmed comes by repe- 
tition to fix itself in the mind in such a way that in the 
end it is accepted as a demonstrated fact. Iteration may 
occur in the same sentence, as : To become perfect you 
must study, study, study. Also, 



200 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Work — work — work 

Till the brain begins to swim. 
Work — work — work 

Till the eyes are heavy and dim. 
Seam and gusset and band, 

Band and gusset and seam, — 
Till over the buttons I fall asleep 

And sew them on in a dream! — Hood. 

E. Comparison. This includes analogy and antithe- 
sis. Comparison is also an element of clearness. We are 
all impressed with resemblances and contrasts. We always 
reason from the known to the unknown. Objects look 
blacker or whiter by comparison. Contrasted colors are 
intensified. Antithesis is most forceful if arranged in bal- 
anced form. 

Example: * 

I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than 
to dwell in the tents of wickedness. — Bible. 

F. Direct Discourse. This gives opportunity for ac- 
tion. It eliminates the middleman. A story loses much of 
its force and humor if removed from its original setting. 
He said that he was Casar, is not as strong as, He said, "I 
am Caesar." 

G. Rhetorical Question. In asking questions, you invite 
the audience to participate in your discussion. These ques- 
tions should usually be in such form as to be answered by 
"yes" or "no," and the answers so obvious that they need 
not be given by the speaker. They are merely forceful 
declarations in interrogative form. 

Example : 

How long, O Catiline ! wilt thou trifle with our patience ? How 
long shalt thou baffle justice in thy mad career? To what ex- 
treme wilt thou carry thy audacity? Art thou nothing daunted 
by the nightly watch posted to secure the Palatium? Nothing, 
by the city guards? Nothing, by the rally of all good citizens? 
Nothing, by the assembling of the Senate in this fortified place? 
Nothing, by the averted looks of all here present? — Cicero. 



Essential Elements — The Speech 201 

H. Interjection. A sudden burst of emotion fre- 
quently thrills an audience to the bone. One word is often 
more forceful than a whole paragraph. Interjections must 
only be used to express deep feeling. 

I. Imagery. Some words and phrases bring to the mind 
definite images; others do not. Prepositions and conjunc- 
tions rarely do. The image is not as clear in general as in 
particular terms. The word "fruit" does not bring to the 
mind a definite image, but "apples" does. Such words as 
"civilization," "house," "evil," are not as forceful as "cities," 
"plows," "school-house," and "stealing." 

For the orator, imagery is power. Let no man aspire 
to be an orator who has not a vivid imagination. "Trope 
and metaphor" must flow readily from his tongue. Slang 
is a form of abused imagery. Note the force of this figure 
of Grattan's : "I never will be satisfied as long as the mean- 
est cottager in Ireland has a link of the British chain cling- 
ing to his rags. He may be naked ; he shall not be in irons !" 
Note, also, the antithesis and balance in the last sentence. 

J. Loftiness. Especially in the oration, when you are 
speaking of profound, universal principles, your language 
must harmonize with your ideas. In your sublime efforts 
never stoop to the sordid and despicable. Slang never finds 
its way into an oration. Clothe your ideas in appropriate 
words. A diamond does not show its brilliancy in a clay 
setting. Do not speak of the "nation's pocket-book," but 
of a "nation's wealth," not of "houses," but of "homes" 
and "mansions." 

When, however, you desire to be less formal and more 
pertinent, take off your gloves and go in with bare fists. 
In a volume, The Real Billy Sunday, by Rev. E. P. Brown, 
is related the reply by Mr. Sunday to some ministers who 
requested that he tone down his remarks. To them he said, 
"Why, if I did that I wouldn't have any more people to 
preach to than you have." 

The subject, occasion, purpose, and audience will deter- 



202 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

mine your selection of words and phrases. But, by all 
means, be consistent. 

K. Adroitness. Frequently a speaker can secure his ends 
by selecting carefully and diplomatically such words and 
phrases as to express what he desired in a circuitous manner. 
Members in Congress and lawyers at the bar have been able 
frequently to indulge in personalities in such a way that 
they cut deep, and at the same time shielded the author. 
The real truth penetrates slowly, but when it does, it sinks 
deeply. Often it might be better and far more effective to 
tell a man "to join the Ananias Club," or that he is "a 
lineal descendant of the impenitent man on the cross," or 
that he has a "brain storm," than to call him a "liar," "a 
thief," or "crazy." 

An implied antithesis suggested by emphasis, a certain 
inflection, or accent may convey a meaning entirely dif- 
ferent, and be much more effective when spoken than if the 
same words appeared in print; as, "He won't do a thing to 
you. You are such a brave man !" "I did not say that you 
were a liar, I only said you did not tell the truth." 

4. Elegance. This quality of style appeals to the 
aesthetic sense: man's sense of beauty, of form, and of 
harmony. It pleases, interests and fascinates ; hence is of 
great value to the orator. 

A. Smoothness. Some speakers mar their language by 
making it jerky. They use too many short sentences; are 
often too epigrammatic. Cicero, who loved a smooth and 
copious style, said that he never heard a Lacedaemonian 
orator. "If there is a tide in his soul, there will be a flow 
in his eloquence, and he will not dam it up in pools by too 
frequent periods." Have both short and long sentences. 
The average number of words at present is about twenty- 
five. Emerson has about twenty; and Maeaulay about 
twenty-three. During the 15th century sentences often 
averaged sixty words. 



Essential Elements — The Speech 203 

Gravity, sublimity, and the picturesque demand long 
sentences. Simplicity, passion, assertion, vigor, find ex- 
pression in short sentences. 

B. Rhythm. A periodic recurrence of a beat or accent 
aids greatly to impress the hearers. The Greek and Roman 
orators paid especial attention to this point. Quintilian 
said that some of the ancient orations might be set to music. 
The student should familiarize himself with the writings of 
Shakespeare, Milton, Hawthorne, Erskine, Grady, parts of 
the Bible, and thus mould his style into patterns of rhythm 
and beauty. 

Rhythm has a great emotional value as well as an aes- 
thetic. Audiences are frequently moved profoundly by the 
rhythmic cadence in the style of some orators. 

Rhythm is mainly a matter of judgment and taste, not 
of rule. Note the difference of rhythm in the following 
sentences : 

In the afternoon about two o'clock we made ready. 

About two o'clock in the afternoon we made ready. 

C. Balance. The word balance is self-explanatory. It 
signifies adjustment, correspondence, poise, sanity. As an 
element of elegance and effectiveness in literary style, it is 
very important. It is a great aid to quickness in under- 
standing, for it is a mental law that similarity of thought 
must be accompanied by similarity or balance in form, as 
any change of form tends to distract the attention. An- 
tithesis and balance make an effective combination. 

Examples : 

a. The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the 
testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. — Psalms, 
xix, 7. 

b. Thus the successors of the old Cavaliers had turned dema- 
gogues; the successors of the old Roundheads had turned 
courtiers. 

c. What does he do, this hero in gray with a heart of gold? 
Does he sit down in sullenness and despair? Not for a day. 



£04 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Surely God, who had stripped him of his prosperity, inspired him 
in his adversity. As ruin was never before so overwhelming, 
never was restoration swifter. The soldier stepped from the 
trenches into the furrow; horses that had charged Federal guns 
marched before the plow; and fields that ran red with human 
blood in April were green with the harvest in June. — Grady. 

D. Alliteration. This consists in the repetition of the 
same initial sound in successive words. It is more fre- 
quently found in poetry than in prose. Still some of our 
great modern orators revel in its use — Ingersoll, Beecher, 
Grady, Prentiss, and many others. To a limited extent it 
adds a definite and striking beauty not otherwise obtained, 
but it fails in its purpose if it be overdone. However, with- 
out "alliteration's artful aid," we would no more hear the 
melodious music of the sobbing seas, the whispering winds, 
the tossing tempests, and our ear might cease to linger 
lovingly on the words of the orator. 

E. Euphony. Sentences should be constructed with 
due regard to a pleasant effect upon the ear. But do not 
sacrifice substance to sound. Avoid the use of words or 
combinations of words which are difficult to pronounce; as, 
despicable, indissoluble, sufficeth, etc. Collections of harsh, 
guttural sounds or words, a succession of sibilant sounds, 
or words beginning with the same sound, — all of these should 
be avoided studiously. 

Examples : a. He spoke in innocent tongues. 

b. He seemed to secure such an excess of similar sibi- 
lance in his successive sentences that they seldom sounded 
sufficiently sane. 

Do not use words that rhyme when writing prose; as, 

Her hair was fair, but she showed little care about the 
way she would wear it. 

Compare the following two lines with respect to euphony: 

Drink to me only with thy eyes. 

Drink to me only with thine eyes. 

Sonorous sounds such as o, m, n, l, should be given pref- 



Essential Elements — The Speech 205 

erence over t, d, b, and s. Too many s's make too much 
of a hissing goose out of the orator. 

F. Variety. Avoid using the same or kindred words in 
the same sentence. Study books on synonyms. Enlarge 
your vocabulary so that you can make appropriate substi- 
tutions. Note the following: 

The commander ordered the general to order the soldiers 
to preserve order. A better way would be: The com- 
mander directed the general to see that the soldiers pre- 
served order. 

G. Floridity. This was at one time the mark of the 
orator. Words bristling with meaning are to be preferred 
to picturesque and flowing language. Rufus Choate once 
gave this advice to a student: "You don't want a diction 
gathered from the newspapers, but you want one whose 
every word is full freighted with suggestion and association, 
with beauty and power." "Certainly the greatest and wisest 
conceptions that ever issued from the mind of man," says 
South, "have been couched under, and delivered in a few, 
close, homey, and significant words." 

However, there is an unmistakable charm in such ora- 
tions as those of Ingersoll, Grady, Beecher, Sheridan, who 
love to revel in metaphoric and melodic expressions, and 
paint pictures in vivid colors appealing to the senses as 
well as to the emotions and the intellect. They somehow 
seize the whole man, body, soul, and spirit, and in some 
way, we know not why, we are ready to believe and obey. 
"How was it done? Ah! how did Mozart do it, how Ra- 
phael? The secret of the rose's sweetness, of the bird's 
ecstasy, of the sunset's glory — that is the secret of genius 
and eloquence." 

EXERCISES 

I. Bring to the class an example secured from your gen- 
eral reading illustrating each of the following qualities of 
style: Concreteness, restatement, climax, direct discourse, 



206 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

rhetorical question, rhythm, alliteration. 

II. Study one of the orations in Part III and note all 
the qualities of style you can discover. 

III. Secure examples of five different qualities of style 
from next Sunday's sermon or from some other public 
speech. 

IV. What qualities of style are illustrated in the follow- 
ing: 

1. He was still handsome, this great-hearted friend of ours, 
although disease had whitened his face and made necessary a 
supporting cane. When I came away, he took my hand in his 
and said, half jestingly, half earnestly, "Good-bye. God bless 
you !" I tried to smile but couldn't. 

2. At Oxford Johnson resided during about three years. 
He was poor, even to raggedness; and his appearance excited 
a mirth and a pity which were equally intolerable to his haughty 
spirit. He was driven from the quadrangle of Christ Church 
by the sneering looks which the members of that aristocratical 
society cast at the holes in his shoes. Some charitable person 
placed a new pair at his door, but he spurned them away in a 
fury. — Macaulay. 

3. But the gentleman inquires why he was made the object 
of such a reply? why was he singled out? If an attack has 
been made on the East, he, he assures us, did not begin it: it 
was made by the gentleman from Missouri. Sir, I answered the 
gentleman's speech because I happened to hear it; and because, 
also, I chose to give an answer to that speech, which, if unan- 
swered, I thought most likely to produce injurious impressions. 
I did not stop to inquire who was the original drawer of the bill. 
I found a responsible indorsee before me, and it was my purpose 
to hold him liable, and to bring him to his just responsibility 
without delay. — Webster. 

4. The last stick on her andirons snaps asunder, and falls 
outward. Two faintly smoking brands stand there. Grand- 
father lays them together, and they flame up. The two smokes 
are one united flame. "Even so let it be in heaven," says grand- 
father. 

5. When dead winter comes, how wondrous look the hills in 
their white robes ! The round red ball of the sun looks through 



Essential Elements — The Speech 207 

the frosty stream. The far-off firth gleams strange and ghostly, 
with a sense of mysterious distance. The mountain loch is a 
sheet of blue, on which you may disport in perfect solitude from 
morn to night, with the hills white on all sides, save where the 
broken snow shows the rusted leaves of the withered bracken. 

6. Mounted in the field and at the head of his troops, a 
glimpse of Lee was an inspiration. His figure was as distinctive 
as that of Napoleon. The black slouch hat, the cavalry boots, 
the dark cape, the plain gray coat without an ornament but the 
three stars on the collar, the calm, victorious face, the splendid 
manly figure on the gray war-horse, — he looked every inch the 
true knight — the grand, invincible champion of a great principle. 

7. The lettuce is to me a most interesting study. Lettuce 
is like conversation: it must be fresh and crisp, so sparkling that 
you scarcely notice the bitter in it. Lettuce, like most talkers, 
is, however, apt to run rapidly to seed. Blessed is that sort 
which comes to a head, and so remains, like few people I know; 
growing more solid, and satisfactory, and tender at the same 
time, and whiter at the center, and crisp in their maturity. Let- 
tuce, like conversation, requires a good deal of oil, to avoid 
friction and keep the company smooth; a pinch of Attic salt, 
a dash of pepper, a quantity of mustard and vinegar, by all 
means, but so mixed that you will notice no sharp contrasts, and 
a trifle of sugar. You can put anything, and the more things the 
better, into salad, as into a conversation, but everything depends 
upon the skill of mixing. I feel that I am in the best society 
when I am with lettuce. It is the select circle of vegetables. — 
C. D. Warner. 

8. The maxim that no people ought to be free till they are 
fit to use their freedom, is worthy of the fool in the old story, 
who resolved not to go into the water till he had learned to 
swim. If men are to wait for liberty till they become wise and 
good in slavery, they may indeed wait forever. 

9- Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbors' house lest he be 
weary of thee, and so hate thee. 

A man that beareth false witness against his neighbor is a 
maul, and a sword, and a sharp arrow. — Bible. 

10. Let us at least have this to say: We too have kept the 
faith of the fathers. We took Cuba by the hand. We delivered 
her from her age-long bondage. We welcomed her to the family 



208 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

of nations. We set mankind an example never beheld before of. 
moderation in victory. We led hesitating and halting Europe 
to the deliverance of their beleaguered ambassadors in China. 
We marched through a hostile country — a country cruel and 
barbarous — without anger or revenge. We returned benefit for 
injury and pity for cruelty. We made the name of America 
beloved in the East as in the West. We kept faith with the 
Philippine people. We kept faith with our own history. We 
kept our national honor unsullied. The flag which we received 
without a rent we handed down without a stain. — A. J. Bever- 
idge. 



CHAPTER IV 
ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS— THE SPEAKER 

"Eloquence," said Webster, "must exist in the man, in the 
subject, and in the occasion." The latter two of these ele- 
ments of eloquence have been discussed in preceding chap- 
ters. The third great factor in public speaking is the 
speaker himself. A good speech, however well prepared, 
will be ineffectual unless well delivered. In treating of de- 
livery we must refer, by way of review, to certain matters 
that were discussed more fully in Part I. 

I. Physical Qualities. "A man may have the bow of 
Ulysses, but of what use is it, if he has not the strength to 
bend it to do his will? His arrows may be of silver and 
gold-tipped ; they may be winged with the feathers of the 
very bird of Paradise; but if he cannot draw them to the 
head and send them home to the mark, of what value are 
they to him?" The crowd demands a leader. This leader 
must always be an embodiment of strength. Elements of 
strength as related to physical qualities are: 

1. Physique. Men of all ages whose tread has made 
the world tremble with their eloquence have been men with 
brawny frames, and great power of physical and mental 
endurance. With few exceptions, those who have not had 
large physiques have had close-knit ones. Burke, Fox, 
Mirabeau, Brougham, Webster, Chalmers, Curran, O'Con- 
n ell, John Bright, Gladstone, Beecher, Bryan, — were all 
men of powerful frames and iron nerves. 

If nature has given you a strong physique, make the 
most of it; develop it and make it still stronger. However, 

209 



210 Oral Reading and Public Speaking > 

there have been mighty powers on the platform who did 
not enjoy this natural advantage. John Randolph had a 
small, short body perched upon long, crane-like legs ; but 
every one in the House of Representatives listened to him 
when he spoke. Wilberforce had a dwarfish body and a 
weak, shrill voice ; but he became a power in Parliament. 
Richard Sheil, the Irish orator, had a pigmy body, and 
Summerfield, one of America's most magical preachers, was 
an invalid all his life. 

2. Voice. Even more than a powerful frame the orator 
needs a good voice. Oh, the magic, the charm, the power, 
in a strong, well modulated voice ! Lord Chatham and 
William Pitt became leaders in Parliament because of their 
voices. Burke, far more brilliant in intellect, had far less 
immediate influence because he lacked a good voice. Thomas 
Jefferson was never considered an able orator because he 
could not control his voice. Mirabeau, O'Connell, and Web- 
ster controlled assemblies by their powerful throats ; Glad- 
stone, Bryan, Clay and Grady by their "silver tongues'." 
When Bryan traveled in Japan, a native who could not un- 
derstand English heard him deliver an address and gave this 
tribute to his eloquence: "His voice sounded like music." 

Since the voice is such an important factor in making a 
successful speaker, too much pains cannot be taken in cul- 
tivating it to its highest possibility. It is to be regretted, 
to say the least, that among men who depend on public 
speaking for their bread and for their success, — preachers, 
lawyers, lecturers, — so many are satisfied with a poor voice, 
throaty and harsh, droning and monotonous, with an abom- 
inable minor inflection. What a power some men could be, 
if they only had good voices ! Why do they not cultivate 
them? This is the answer: Either ignorance or indolence. 

But wherein lies the charm of a good voice? The chief 
elements are: 

A. Distinctness. By all means secure a clear, distinct 



Essential Elements — The Speaker 211 

articulation. It is said that Monvel, the French actor, had 
scarcely any voice, not even teeth, and yet every one in 
the audience could hear every word. The secret was dis- 
tinct articulation. Loudness is not distinctness. Many 
speakers can make themselves heard in every part of the 
room when they whisper. How did they acquire this abil- 
ity? By whispering*. When in your room imagine you have 
a large audience. Speak to them just as you would if 
you were on the platform, only do not use your vocal 
cords. Make a special effort to make yourself clear. There 
is perhaps no better method to cultivate distinctness than 
to practice whispering with an effort to make your words 
carry. Besides, you will not disturb those in the same build- 
ing. 

B. Purity. This quality is very essential. No husk- 
iness, throatiness, raspiness, breathiness, mouthing, lisping, 
can be tolerated in a good speaker. The voice should be 
clear as the tone of a silver bell. 

C. Melody. A voice should have modulations in change 
of pitch, inflections, a pleasing accent, and a musical 
cadence. Cultivate a range of at least one octave, and 
use it when you speak. Do not hang on to one note as 
though fearful that if you once got off you would lose it 
forever. 

D. Volume. Speak so you can be heard. Some speak- 
ers begin in such a low tone that they are not heard by 
one-half of the audience. If you are not heard, you can- 
not be understood; then why speak at all? Gauge your 
voice so as to make those in the back row hear what you 
say, then every one between } T ou and the back row will be 
able to hear you. Do not yell, but speak. Some people 
imagine that a low, coarse voice like that of a bull or the 
sound of a bass drum is essential. Not at all. Neither 
do you want a high, shrill, rafter-splitting scream. A 
normal voice is best — one that will permit the speaker to 
raise or lower the pitch, and to increase or decrease the 



212 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

volume. The secret of power in many speakers lies in their 
ability to adapt the character of their voices to the ideas 
and emotions impressed ; and the range of the emotions is as 
great as the gamut of human experience. 

E. Tone-color, or the emotional modulation of the voice, 
is the result of harmonizing sympathetically the four ele- 
ments just mentioned. "Ninety-nine men in every hundred 
in the crowded profession will probably never rise above 
mediocrity because the training of the voice is entirely ne- 
glected and considered of no importance," wrote Mr. Glad- 
stone. 

3. Personal Appearance. It may be difficult and fre- 
quently impossible to develop a robust and commanding 
physique ; but there is little excuse for the public speaker 
to disregard his personal appearance. If the speaker desires 
to make the best impression, he should make the most of him- 
self. His clothes should be neat, well-fitting and plain. 
Flashy jewelry should not be worn. Immaculate linen, and 
care of hands, nails and hair, are matters not too trifling 
to be scrupulously observed by the speaker. 

II. Mental Qualities. Our great orators were ro- 
bust physically; they likewise had giant intellects. Some 
of the mental qualities absolutely essential for a great 
speaker are: 

1. Memory. Facts and figures must be constantly at 
the speaker's command. Train your memory. Some of 
our most eloquent men have made it a rule to commit to 
memory some choice bit of literature every week. When 
delivering a memorized selection have it so well in mind that 
you do not need to think of what is coming next. This 
reaching out after the next thought ruins any delivery. 
Cultivate a good memory. Much practice and following 
correct principles will bring wonderful improvement. Here 
are a few rules on memory: 



Essential Elements — The Speaker 213 

A. Get rid of the idea that your memory is not as good 
as it was years ago. 

B. Center your thoughts exclusively on the task at hand. 
Use your will. 

C. Repeat often. 

D. Learn familiar matter, if not too long, as a whole. 
Do not take it a line at a time. Many useless associations 
of ideas are thus formed. 

E. Unfamiliar and difficult matter should be repeated un- 
til memorized. 

F. Use imagery wherever possible, but do not encumber 
your mind with useless pictures. 

G. Rest after work. Allow the mind to rest after a se- 
lection is mastered. 

H. Use all the avenues at your command. Do not try 
to learn a selection silently. If it is a reading or an oration, 
by all means repeat it aloud each time. There is no econ- 
omy in writing out the selection you desire to memorize. 

I. Learn it well before you discard the manuscript. 
After a wrong word or association is once fixed in the mind, 
it requires much effort to correct or to eliminate it. 

J. Trust your memory and so go on the platform with 
confidence. 

%. Imagination. The difference between an indifferent 
speaker and an eloquent orator depends largely on a differ- 
ence in imagination. "It is not by naked, bold statement of 
facts, but by pictures that make them see the facts that 
assemblies are moved." To develop a vivid imagination, 
think concisely, observe minutely, study the works of imag- 
inative writers, picture to yourself in detail the ideas im- 
pressed by these writers. 

3. Will. The mind as will causes you to act or to make 
a choice. You may be convinced that a thing should be 
done, and yet not do it. Self as will must be aroused to 



£14 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

action. A strong, controlled will power can be developed 
by doing the things you know to be expedient and right. 
Your reasoning powers decide what is right and then your 
will must compel you to do the right thing. Hence, the 
necessity for strong will power in every individual, not only 
to do things that should be done, but to refrain from doing 
the things that should not be done. 

In the first place, you must practice and drill upon the 
fundamental exercises in this book. You may soon lose 
interest in them. At first they are new and interesting, soon 
they lose their novelty and then you must bring the will to 
bear and compel yourself to keep at it. In the second place, 
when topics for speeches are assigned to you, your inclina- 
tion will be to put off from day to day and depend on the 
spur of the moment for your thoughts. Do not do it. Get 
busy at once. Just say to yourself, "I have a strong will. 
I can do the things that I should do. I am no weakling. 
I may not have a giant's body, but I have a strong will. 
I know I ought to begin at once, and / will do so. 9 * It has 
been said that what we call a strong will power in ourselves, 
we often call stubbornness in others. Stubbornness is a 
determination to do a thing just to be contrary; — usually 
to keep on doing something after we are convinced that we 
are wrong. But that is a very different thing from will 
power. A fearless determination to do the right thing 
has made many a speaker a power in his community. This 
evidence of will power is illustrated in Garrison when he said, 
"I am in earnest : I will not equivocate — I will not excuse — 
I will not retract a single inch — and I will be heard." And 
he was heard. 

Infinite power dawned in man 

When God created Will. 

Eternal growth consumes its plan, 

Details its laws fulfill; 

High purpose vaults life's endless span; 

But all is strength through drill. 



Essential Elements — The Speaker 215 

4. Sense of Humor. "A man without a sense of humor," 
declares an anonymous writer, "is occasionally to be re- 
spected, often to be feared, and nearly always to be avoided." 
Wit and humor are closely related. Wit is intellectual, hu- 
mor emotional ; wit is a perception of resemblance, humor 
a perception of contrast, of discrepancy, of incongruity. 
Both afford a pleasurable surprise, a gentle shock. Wit, 
being intellectual, suffers by repetition. Humor is a feeling 
and can always be revived. A statement that is humorous, 
when recalled, may provoke as much and often more laugh- 
ter than when first heard or seen. Humor, it has been said, 
is laughing with the other man ; wit is laughing at him. We 
laugh at the unusual, but it must contain an element of 
truth ; at strange combinations — a cow sitting on a thistle, 
whistling like a bird; unusual relationships — cow jumping 
over the moon; at the unexpected, a jack-in-a-box; at sud- 
den turns of thought; as, Teacher (to a pupil in a class of 
English History)— "Mr. Smith, who followed Henry VIII?" 
Mr. Smith — "Anne Bolinsky" ; at exaggerations — a mule 
with one ear sticking through a tree top and birds sitting 
on it, the other lopping on the ground and boys skating on it. 

The ability to conceive and mentally to construct un- 
usual and unique relationships between ideas is a rare gift. 
Again, it is not enough to say interesting things, but to say 
them in an interesting manner. A witty and apt retort, a 
bit of irony, sarcasm, or ridicule, is at times more effectual 
than a whole speech. Avoid personal sarcasm. Do not 
antagonize your audience. You want to win them. "More 
flies are caught with sugar than with vinegar." 

Avoid being funny. Some speakers make themselves 
ridiculous, yes, at times disgusting, who have no sense of 
humor and are always trying to say something "cute" or 
"smart." And yet how we do admire a man who can at least 
once in a while leave the dry sands of his discourse and give 
us a cool drink, by permitting us to bring together two ideas 
not usually associated! Says Goethe: "There is nothing 



216 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

commonplace which could not be made to appear humorous 
if quaintly expressed." 

5. Common Sense. Use good judgment. If you have 
not 'good judgment, at least use the best you have. Inter- 
ruptions will frequently occur while you are speaking. If 
you exercise good sense, you will not show your annoyance 
as the preacher did when a little boy in his congregation 
was attracting attention by rapidly twisting his head from 
side to side, by saying, "Boy, if you do not quit that I will 
come down there and twist your head off." A more sensible 
retort and surely more effective was spoken by another min- 
ister who, while preaching on the text, "Thou art weighed in 
the balance and found wanting," was interrupted by a num- 
ber of persons getting up and leaving the church. When 
the next person arose to leave the speaker said, "That is 
right — as soon as you are weighed you may pass out." No 
more left. The average speaker requires not genius, but 
common sense. 

III. Moral Qualities. "If I should make the shortest 
list of qualifications for an orator," said Emerson, "I should 
begin with manliness." 

1. Character. It is said of Sheridan, England's most 
brilliant orator, that he might have ruled Europe had he 
only possessed a trustworthy character. Do not pretend, — 
be. "Let no sneak try to be an orator," said Beecher. A 
man who does not back up by his life what he preaches had 
better plow corn. Had Luther's words been contradicted 
by his life they would never have rung through the world 
like the blast of a trumpet. "There can be no true elo- 
quence," says Emerson, "unless there is a man behind the 
speech." . . . Again, "What care I what you say, when 
what you do stands over my head and thunders in my ear 
so loud that I cannot hear what you say." 



Essential Elements — 7"he Speaker £17 

2. Sincerity. The word sincere was derived from the 
practice of filling up flaws in furniture with wax, whence 
sine cera came to mean pure, not adulterated. Earnestness 
is one of the most essential elements in securing power in 
delivery. Sincerity is the mental basis of earnestness. A 
liar is not believed even when he does tell the truth. If you 
have no faith in your message, do not imagine for a moment 
that you can make any one else believe in it. Remember 
you cannot fool all the people all the time. "I have heard," 
says Emerson, "an experienced counsellor say that he never 
feared the effect upon a jury of a lawyer who does not be- 
lieve in his heart that his client ought to have a verdict. If 
he does not believe in it, his unbelief will appear to the jury, 
despite all his protestations, and will become their unbelief." 

3. fearlessness. Develop a backbone, if you have none. 
The orator is a leader. A coward can never lead. Be sure 
that you are right, then maintain your position. A man 
who swerves with every change of the wind will never be- 
come an orator. We enjoy listening to a man who has con- 
victions and is fearless in expressing them. Fearlessness 
grows out of the conviction that you know that you know, 
and a conscious approval that 3 T our convictions are truths. 

4. Perseverance. Our most successful orators have been 
men of indomitable perseverance and untiring industry. It 
is perspiration not inspiration, industry not ingeniousness, 
work not birth, that will make the orator of the future. 
These are the words of Salvini, the great actor, to his pupil : 
"Above all, study, study, study. All the genius in the world 
will not help you along with any art, unless you become a 
hard student." 

5. Trustworthiness. Be dependable. There are few 
things which will detract more from a speaker's success and 
popularity than faithlessness. Be a man of your word. If 
you say you will speak at such a time and at such a place, 



218 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

do so; be on time and be prepared. The best way to form 
this habit is to begin now in your class work. If a speech 
is due, have it prepared the best you can. Offer no excuse, 
make no apologies. "Back of nearly every excuse for work 
not done, lies, if the whole truth were told, weakness or 
negligence." After school days are over you may receive an 
invitation to speak upon some occasion. You may also be 
conscious of the fact that you were second or third in 
choice, and may be tempted to say to yourself, "I don't want 
a second-hand invitation, I'll not accept it." But don't say 
it. Accept. Do the best you can, though the time for pre- 
paration may be short. Sooner or later invitations will 
come to you first hand. Prove to 3^our community that you 
are reliable, that you are dependable, that you are a friend 
indeed because you were a friend in need. These moral 
qualities have proved an essential factor in the success of 
many a business and professional man, and they will like- 
wise be of inestimable service to the speaker. 

IV. Style of Delivery. There is no one style of de- 
livery. Each great orator and speaker has had a style all 
his own, but there are certain underlying principles which 
govern all styles. A speaker's delivery should be: 

1. Natural. Do not be affected, stagy, or act like a 
mechanically constructed toy; — be natural. This does not 
mean that you should exhibit all your peculiar eccentricities 
£>n the stage that you may show on the street. Do not 
imagine that when you speak a selection by Webster you 
must imitate his voice and his mannerisms. If you are re- 
hearsing the production of another, speak it as you would 
have spoken it on that particular occasion. Had John B. 
Gough tried to imitate the style, of Beecher, we would never 
have heard of Mr. Gough. Do not try to become a Billy 
Sunday. His style does very well for Billy Sunday, but it 
is quite possible that you will be able to express yourself 



Essential Elements — The Speaker 219 

on most subjects on a platform less than twenty by forty 
feet. 

Talking through the nose or teeth, or in the throat, or 
at the walls, may seem natural to many ; but these are mat- 
ters of habit rather than of nature. Students who in their 
school or college course first give attention to the manner 
of their speech, bring to the stud}' certain habits. These 
habits may be good or bad. The good habits need develop- 
ing and strengthening; the bad represent sundry faults, 
some curable, many needing to be eradicated and supplanted, 
all capable of improvement. Now, these bad habits are not 
natural, in the sense that they are true exponents of nature. 
They are, rather, a cultivated unnaturalness. We must 
therefore be careful not to confound habit with nature, 
peculiarity with individuality. On this "being natural" fal- 
lac}> Professor Hiram Corson, in his little book, The Voice 
and Spiritual Education, says : " 'Enter into the spirit of 
what you read, read naturally, and you will read well,' is 
about the sum and substance of what Archbishop Whately 
teaches on the subject, in his Elements of Rhetoric. Simi- 
lar advice might with equal propriety be given to a clumsy, 
stiff-jointed clodhopper in regard to dancing, 'Enter into 
the spirit oi the dance, dance naturally, and you will dance 
well.' The more he might enter into the spirit of the dance, 
the more he might emphasize his stiff-jointedness and clod- 
hopperishness." 

Many students seek instruction in oratory who seem to 
imagine that the teacher can furnish them with some patent 
device whereby they will become proficient in the art. Ban- 
ish from your mind any thought that this or that "system," 
this or that "method," will make you an orator, or even — 
what is far more to our purpose — an effective public speaker. 
No method but your own — the expression of your individu- 
ality — will ever make } t ou any sort of a speaker other than 
a parrot or a machine. Be yourself, not a mere imitator. 
Certain principles are fundamental, but expression will be 



£20 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

as varied as individualities. Avoid any "system" that would 
cast all speakers in the same mould. Aim not to become a 
Demosthenes or Cicero, a Webster or Clay, but aim for the 
best and most effective expression of Yourself. Above all, 
eschew any ambition to become "eloquent," as the term is 
commonly used, — "to soar among the constellations and 
strew the floor with star-dust." Keep your feet upon the 
earth, the audience will more likely be able to follow you. 

Study the ways and style of delivery of our great orators, 
past and present; listen to all you possibly can. If a cer- 
tain minister or speaker pleases you, listen to him, absorb 
his style, but do not imitate it. Adopt those characteristics 
which especially please you, reject certain mannerisms which 
you think detract from his effectiveness. Thus, slowly and 
surely, you will develop a style, personal, natural, and ef- 
fective. 

%. Conversational. This is a style suitable for most 
occasions, — a straightforward heart to heart talk. Speak 
with interest, vivacity, earnestness and naturalness, just as 
you would in animated conversation. This style must be 
modified and intensified on the platform, just as everything 
on the platform must be slightly exaggerated ; but the point 
is, that if the audience is to be impressed by your thoughts, 
convinced of your convictions, and persuaded to your be- 
liefs, its attention should not be distracted by a method of 
communication outside of ordinary experience. If here and 
there a speaker who has special qualities of force or attrac- 
tiveness attains a certain measure of success by another 
method, it does not affect the truth of this underlying prin- 
ciple. 

Then, too, the conversational style of delivery accords 
with modern taste; for oratory, like other arts, may have a 
certain type or style, varying with changing conditions. 
The style of popular oratory has undergone a marked 
change in this country — from the heavy and bombastic to 




4 
S 6 

§■» 

6 3 

K o 



Essential Elements — The Speaker 221 

the simple and direct — within the past twenty-five years. It 
was Wendell Phillips who more than any other one man first 
set the fashion whicih has largely done away with barn- 
storming and haranguing. George William Curtis describes 
his manner as that of a "gentleman conversing." Says 
Colonel Thomas Wentworth Higginson : 

The keynote to the oratory of Wendell Phillips lay in this: 
that it was essentially conversational — the conversational raised 
to the highest power. Perhaps no orator ever spoke with so 
little apparent effort, or began so entirely on the plane of his 
average hearers. It was as if he simply repeated, in a little 
louder tone, what he had just been saying to some familiar friend 
at his elbow. The colloquialism was never realized, but it was 
familiarity without loss of dignity. Then, as the argument went 
on, the voice grew deeper, the action more animated, and the 
sentences came in a long, sonorous swell, still easy and graceful, 
but powerful as the soft stretch of a tiger's paw. 

Again, the style of one's speech will vary with the occa- 
sion and the audience. One's style of conversation varies 
with the formality of the occasion and the intelligence of 
the hearer or hearers. And so it is in public speaking — 
and especially in extempore speaking. "Personal grapple" 
with an audience demands a style suited to that particular 
audience. Hence the power of adaptability needs to be de- 
veloped. This cannot be attained through rules, but the 
student should, so far as possible, practice adapting himself 
to different audiences. The danger of the over-academic 
style, which frequently prevents the college-bred man from 
reaching the popular ear, should be guarded against sedu- 
lously. 

Always speak on a level with your audience ; not down to, 
nor up to, but on a level with^as complete an adaptation 
as possible. The preacher, for example, who makes a suc- 
cessful after-dinner speech will not deliver a sermon. He 
will have the purpose of his address in mind, in the one case 
as well as in the other, but the same style would ordinarily 



2%Q Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

be unsuited to both types of address. The unimpassioned 
argument that a lawyer might properly deliver to a court 
would fail to reach the aA^erage jury. The scientist address- 
ing a body of fellow-scientists would naturally use a diction 
ill adapted to speaking on the same subject to a popular 
audience. The style of a Sunday-school address would 
rarely be suited to that of a political speech. And so we 
might go on multiplying illustrations, for they are as num- 
erous as the audiences one may be called upon to address. 

3. Dramatic. Some speakers love to energize their ef- 
forts until they resemble the actor on the stage. They "act 
out" their thoughts ; their gestures are many and violent. 
Frequently they stand upon chairs, lie down on the plat- 
form, etc. This style is attractive to a majority of the 
people, especially to the less educated class. But the "ar- 
tist" in public speaking need not resort to such physical 
contortions to interest his audience. However, there are 
times when a touch of "dramatic eloquence" may be made 
very effective. Even Beecher occasionally resorted to im- 
personation to make his points clear and impressive. But 
when the dramatic style is employed, it should always be 
spontaneous,— natural. 

V. Power. What is the secret of power in the speaker? 
Have you not asked yourself this question, as you listened 
to an eloquent address which held you spellbound, or to an 
evangelist who brought thousands of men and women to 
their knees? What is the secret? Not even the orator him- 
self can explain the secret of his power. This is not only 
true of the art of speaking, but it is true of music, painting, 
and even the military art. When Napoleon was once asked 
how he managed to win so many victories, he replied : "Mon 
Dieu, it is natural to me ; I was made so !" Eloquence is 
like the wind, we can feel its presence, but know not "whence 
it cometh nor whither it goeth." A few of the elements of 
power are: 



Essential Elements — The Speaker 223 

1. Personal Magnetism. This element to some degree is 
always present in the orator and effective speaker; but it 
is difficult to analyze. Professor Kleiser says, "It is a pat- 
ent influence in swaying and moving an audience, and is 
associated with geniality, sympathy, frankness, manliness, 
persuasiveness and an attractive personal appearance. 
There is a purely animal magnetism, which passes from 
speaker to audience and back again, swiftly and silently. 
This magnetic quality is sometimes found in the voice, in 
the eye, or may be reflected in the whole personality of the 
speaker." It is found in men who have deep convictions, 
strong likes and dislikes and are fearless in expressing them. 
It is found in men of whom we say, "There is a man with 
a strong personality.'" 

Worry and fear are the greatest foes to securing a strong 
personal magnetism. A firm, determined will is the greatest 
help. Any one who will discipline his mind and bod}* may 
possess personal magnetism, but the discipline must be daily, 
— yes, hourly. Learn to look people in the eyes when you 
speak to them on the streets or from the platform, and 
make them look at you; for the eyes — "the windows of the 
soul" — are a most important factor in the development and 
the impress of personality. In a recent address to a grad- 
uating class, Ex-President Charles H. Eliot of Harvard 
University said: "There is a subtle power latent in each 
one of you, w r hich few have developed, but which w T hen devel? 
oped might make a man irresistible. It is called personal 
magnetism. I advise you to master it." 

2. Earnestness. The basic element of earnestness is sin- 
cerity. Believe what you say and then say it as though you 
believed it. Earnestness requires (1) a thorough knowl- 
edge of your subject, (2) a sincere faith in that subject, and 
(3) an unswerving determination to implant in others that 
knowledge and that faith. Betterton, the actor, gave this 
reason to the Lord Bishop of London, why the clergy had so 



224 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

little influence with the people : "The actor speaks of things 
imaginary as though they were real; the preacher too often 
speaks of things real as though they were imaginary." Do 
not speak "from the teeth outward," but from the heart. 
Mr. W. Mathews says, "It is not enough that the speaker 
utter profound or weighty truths ; he must show by all pos- 
sible forms of expression, — by voice, looks, and gestures — 
that they are truths, living, vital truths to him." 

When rendering the selection of some one else, learn the 
circumstances which occasioned it. Get the historical set- 
ting, if you can. Try to identify yourself with the speaker 
and the occasion. Your imagination must be called upon 
to aid you in this. Picture to yourself as vividly as you can 
the scenes you describe; do not speak mere words. Unless 
you see the picture and feel the emotions you will never get 
your audience to see nor to act. Do not forget that the 
thought must be clear and vivid in the speaker's mind at 
the moment of utterance. Effective speaking is simply the 
science and art of thinking out loud. Reverend Joseph 
Parker, the great London preacher, was once asked by a 
clergyman to aid him in getting a charge. Mr. Parker 
asked him to preach a sermon. In the midst of its delivery 
he was interrupted with the pertinent comment, "Now, I 
know why you do not have a parish; you are speaking to 
get something off your mind and not into mine." The trouble 
with many speakers who excuse themselves when their de- 
livery is poor, by saying that they did not get into their 
subject, is that the subject did not get into them. Luther 
said that he could never preach nor pray unless he first 
became indignant. It is often necessary to be provoked or 
antagonized before one is stimulated into doing one's best. 
Some students are very poor speakers until they become an- 
gry, and then they have a remarkable command of language 
and speak with great force. 

The audience is often an added inspiration to earnestness. 
It is difficult to do vour best without some inspiration from 



Essential Elements — The Speaker 225 

a sympathetic audience. But in your practice do not de- 
pend upon this. Imagine that you have a large audience; 
speak as though you are commanding one, and some day 
you may. Forget self. Be conscious only of your subject 
and a desire to get the subject into your audience. Do 
not let your earnestness depend upon the occasion, but mas- 
ter the occasion through earnestness. Be prepared; be con- 
fident that you have your speech well in hand. Speak it as 
though you meant it. Loudness is not earnestness. Talma, 
the French actor, said that he had studied forty years to 
be energetic without noise. 

3. Progress. Get somewhere. Say something worth 
while each moment, or quit. Get at your point, make it, then 
stop. 

Begin in a tone just loud enough to be heard by every 
one in the audience. But be sure that you are heard. It 
is said of Henry Gratton that he "could not utter a half- 
dozen sentences without getting into such a passion and 
indulging in such violent gestures that it was quite unsafe 
for any member to sit within reach of his right arm." Such 
violence, especially at the beginning, is not recommended. 
Dr. Leif child's rule is a better one, "Begin low; go on slow; 
rise higher; take fire." It is natural that you should take 
some time to get warmed up, but be sure that you do get a 
little fire in you and let it burn brighter and brighter until 
you close. In the delivery, as in the composition, everything 
must be done climactically. Your enthusiasm must be on 
the increase until you close. In a long speech you may have 
a number of climaxes, but the close of each succeeding cli- 
max should find you more in earnest, more enthusiastic. 
Get somewhere ; never let the interest in your speech fag for 
a moment. This does not mean constant pounding under 
a running fire. Interest and attention can be secured only 
by appropriate transition. At the beginning of each main 
division there should be a lull, not unlike a well-ordered con- 



226 Oral Reading arid-Public Speaking 

versation, when the subject under discussion is changed. 
The speaker starts out with about the same composure and 
deliberation he did at the beginning of his speech. Short 
periods of silence, rising from a transition of ideas, are in- 
cident to a normal conversation and are an important fac- 
tor in holding the attention of the audience. 

4. Control. "He who reigns within himself, rules his 
person, desires, and fears, is more than a king." Emotions 
must be checked, not choked. Power is not expressed by 
ranting, by a loud, tearful, tremulous voice, by abundant 
gesticulations, by sobs, nor by uncontrolled expression of 
the feeling within. Power is expressed by exhibiting a re- 
served strength. Like an army, its strength is shown by the 
men in reserve, not the number on the picket line. The 
audience sympathizes with a man who struggles, not the 
man who gives up. Control your passions^, your anger; ha- 
tred, sorrow, joy, and sympathy; let it be seen in your eyes, 
the lines in your face, the color of your cheek, the trembling 
of your body. The Bible speaks of "unutterable joy" and 
"voiceless prayer." Those persons who themselves are cool 
when at white heat, are most likely to set the audience on 
fire. The three friends who sat down by Job for seven days 
and nights without uttering a word were more eloquent in 
their silence than all the subsequent complainings and la- 
mentations. 

Mathews says, in his Oratory and Orators, "When a 
speaker who is deeply moved, using a gentler mode of ex- 
pression than the facts might warrant, appears thus to stifle 
his feeling and studiously to keep them within bounds, the 
effect of this partial concealment is to give them an ap- 
pearance of greater intensity and strength." Silence is 
often more eloquent than words. That man has the greatest 
expression of power who does not express all of it, and lets 
the audience feel that there is still more in him. What the 
audience sees is merely the overflow. Still waters run deep- 



Essential Elements — The Speaker 227 

est; and an empty vessel makes most sound. 

5. Physical Expression. This element, mentioned here 
for completeness in classification, is of such importance to 
the speaker that a separate chapter will be devoted to it. 

EXERCISES 

I. Select similar stanzas from some long poem and ex- 
periment on yourself as to the best way to memorize it. 

1. Read it over silently. 

2. Read it silently but move your lips. 

3. Read it aloud. 

4. Have a friend read it to you. 

5. Read it silently but repeat each line until committed, 
memorizing it sentence by sentence. 

6. Write it over and over. 

II. Let each member of the class tell a funny story. 
Let the class tell whether it illustrates Wit or Humor. 

III. Look steadily at an object for three minutes. 

IV. Let each member of the class relate his efforts in 
trying to look into the eyes of some person to whom he will 
speak to-morrow. 

V. Select some good oration from Part III. for practice 
in a direct, conversational, natural style. 

VI. Describe ten scenes which made you laugh while ob- 
serving moving-pictures. 

VII. Describe five scenes that made you feel sad. 

VIII. Why do you laugh when one man accidentally 
steps on the corns of a fellow actor on the stage? 

IX. What emotions are aroused in you when an actor 
sings a parody of Home, Sweet Home? 

X. Make a full report on the next great speaker who 
comes to your town. What features impressed you most? 
What were his main faults? 



CHAPTER V 
PHYSICAL EXPRESSION 

Definition. Physical expression, or gesture, is any 
movement of the body that expresses the thoughts and emo- 
tions of the individual. It is a myological language, a silent, 
visual, powerful auxiliary to the human voice. 

All movements of the body are not gestures. Such me- 
chanical movements as breathing, walking, buttoning one's 
coat, "babbling with the hands," and scores of other move- 
ments arising from physical necessity, mental embarrass- 
ment, or bodily discomfort are ordinarily not auxiliaries or 
substitutes for the voice ; but are premeditated, voluntary, 
muscular actions that always detract from delivery. 

Gestures, then, may be said to be those spontaneous, in- 
voluntary movements of the eyes, forehead, lips, head, arms, 
hands, feet, chest, trunk, or any part or parts of the body 
that aid in expressing the thoughts and emotions of the 
speaker. These physical manifestations are always soul- 
inspired and should always re-enforce vocal delivery. 

Purpose. As articulate speech antedated writing, so the 
muscular language preceded articulate speech. Delsarte 
states that thoughts are expressed by articulate speech, feel- 
ings by inflections, and emotions by gestures. 

The mentality of animals and savages is limited, for the 
most part, to feelings and emotions. Their expression is 
likewise limited to vocal inflections and physical action. 
As races rise in intelligence, their articulate language be- 
comes more developed, and inflections and gesticulation de- 
crease. The Chinese language, for example, is very inflec- 

228 



Physical Expression %%9 

tional. One word may have a dozen different meanings, 
depending on how it is pronounced. Savages have only a 
few hundred words in their vocabulary, but have an elab- 
orate myological language. When civilized men permit their 
emotions to dominate their intelligence, they resort to many 
and violent physical expressions. Observe a man when he 
is angry, happy, in despair, or in pain. 

Gesture, then, is primarily the language of the emotions. 
And as emotions are a large factor in influencing the crowd 
mind, the orator who desires to persuade his audience can 
ill afford not to master and use this valuable language. 
Again, on the thought side, gesture is an inestimable aux- 
iliary. The speaker should, as a rule, exhaust his vocal 
resources to make his meaning clear before resorting to 
gesture. But as words are seldom adequate to express our 
thoughts and certainly are weak instruments to convey our 
emotions, the orator should never hesitate to call to his aid, 
"all the resources of the living man." 

Demosthenes epigrammatically said that the first three 
qualities of the orator were "action." It is said that the 
Greeks were so adept in the use of their facial muscles when 
speaking, that jurists are known to have requested the ad- 
vocates to wear masks or speak in a dark room so that the 
bench might not be persuaded to decide a case as the result 
of this emotional expression instead of being convinced by 
the logic of their arguments. 

Every speaker who is energetic, earnest, and enthusiastic 
is bound to expend some of this energy in physical action. 
Again, if he has an impression, it will seek expression in 
some way ; if his thoughts will not form into words readily, 
this energy is diffused over the body, resulting in the many 
meaningless and involuntary movements of the body. Why 
not direct and develop these detracting movements, these 
useless and undesirable exhibitions of nervousness, and this 
surplus energy into actions that are mighty auxiliaries to 
the human voice? 



230 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Universality. The fundamental principles of physical 
expression have been the same for all ages and for all races. 
Heart throbs have found expression in sculpture and paint- 
ing, and we read the history of civilization in these silent 
but unmistakable memorials. Human emotions have but one 
expression. The leprous beggar in the streets of Damascus 
holds out his hand in just the same way as does a New York 
rent collector; and the unfriendly demonstration of a worm- 
eating Bushman is as easily interpreted as the same inhos- 
pitable salutation of a Broadway policeman. 

In 1893, the year of the World's Fair in Chicago, a num- 
ber of Hottentots were brought from Africa. Being unable 
to find an interpreter who spoke their language, which con- 
sists of only a few hundred words, they were sent to the 
Baltimore (Maryland) Deaf and Dumb Asylum. The result 
is corroborated by reliable authority that the students in 
the asylum and the savages had little difficulty in under- 
standing each other, and all engaged in a very animated 
conversation. 

It is said that a barbarian prince, after seeing a Roman 
play, begged the Emperor to permit him to take with him 
the leading actor, as a silent interpreter to the many vis- 
itors he was obliged to entertain but could not converse with. 

To become a master of this silent coadjutor to the living 
voice, has been the ambition of every speaker of note 
throughout the history of the world. 

The Source or Information. Why not present "cut 
and dried" formulas for every thought and emotion as many 
elocution manuals try to do, which tell us just where the 
feet should stand, how the fingers kink, where the palm 
should land, and when the eyes should blink? Physical ex- 
pression is not learned in that way. But fine speakers and 
actors were developed by such systems? Perhaps. But 
have you ever seen a patent medicine that did not have 
some "restored" patient who loudly proclaimed the cura- 



Physical Expression 231 

tive virtues of the nostrum? 

Physical expression is an art — a fine art, and it can best 
be taught, like all other arts, not by memorizing rules, but 
by the sound pedagogical principle of Comenius : "We 
learn to do by doing." Gesture must be a spontaneous, in- 
voluntary expression. If too circumscribed and prescribed, 
it becomes mechanical, affected, and non-expressive. 

But the novice in this art, like the young painter or sculp- 
tor or musician, must have some guide, some pattern, some 
aid, some criticism. This is very true. Then how and 
where may this be obtained? Observe. Study. Learn. 
Study the works of our great painters and sculptors who 
have expressed on canvas and in bronze and stone the emo- 
tional life of the human race. Observe nature, animals, 
children, men, and women when they express their hear!: 
throbs, unpolluted and unveneered by the formalities of so- 
cial conventions. If you wish to study the expression of 
sorrow, follow a widow to the newly heaped grave of her 
only son. Would you secure the physical expression of an- 
ger, study a dog fight or observe the physical expression 
of two "back-alley brats" settling their disputes by resort- 
ing to primitive methods; if you desire to know how joy 
may be objectively expressed, watch the victorious fans at 
a football game. Delsarte formulated his great principles 
of physical expression by visiting, not the fashionable boule- 
vards of Paris, but the poor tenement homes and the hos- 
pitals where men were dying and where nature comes into 
her own. 

But many do not have the opportunity to get information 
first hand, and many more who are already victims of the 
American hot-house system of education, want a short-cut 
route to the fundamental principles of this universal lan- 
guage, and desire definite rules and suggestions to guide 
them in correcting wrong habits already formed. And, if 
we seem to be inconsistent and appear to deviate from merely 



232 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

stating general principles and suggest a few detailed direc- 
tions, it is for the purpose of aiding the latter. 

Natural Gestures. Frequently the statement is heard, 
— gesture naturally. This advice needs modification. Ges- 
tures must be natural in that they must be spontaneous, 
and have their origin from a mental desire to call on the 
body to ara the voice. They must be genuine, for gestures 
made by rule or by rote will never result in grace, beauty, 
or effectiveness. On the other hand, since frequently the 
natural gesture merely follows the line of least resistance, 
it is usually very awkward and inartistic. It is not nature, 
but nature perverted. Little children gesture spontaneously 
and naturally, but seldom gracefully. The shoemaker when 
making a speech will naturally permit his arms to swing 
upward and outward — the direction his hands daily take 
when pulling the thread through the leather. The black- 
smith will naturally gesture with a measured downward 
stroke of the clenched fist. A young minister was observed 
having but one gesture when enthused — his right hand made 
a short quick pass from right to left in front of his body. 
It was learned that his early life had been spent in the cot- 
ton field. The arms of the pugilist take the character of a 
punch rather than the stroke of the carpenter. Many of 
the circular, base-ball, full-arm swings of Rev. Billy Sunday 
will always be a link connecting him to his early profession. 
Natural gestures are seldom examples of grace and beauty. 
As in the voice, so with the gesture — if nature is correct, 
good; if not, proper modifications and changes must be se- 
cured through training. 

Classification. Numerous classifications of gestures are 
extant. The following is brief, useful, and comprehensive: 

I. Intellectual. These aid in expressing the thought, 
and will be considered under 1, Descriptive, 2, Locative, 
3, Emphatic, and 4, Question. 

II. Emotional. These aid in expressing the emotions, 



Physical Expression £33 

primarily, and are sometimes called emotionally-manifestive. 
There are as many forms as there are distinct and separate 
emotions that are physically expressive. 

1. Descriptive Action. The use of this gesture is to stim- 
ulate the imagination, both of the speaker and of the hearer, 
in more clearly perceiving objects or scenes spoken of, but 
not present to the view. The first essential is that the pic- 
ture he describes be very vividly outlined on the canvas of 
the speaker's own imagination; second, that he be true to 
this scene, consistent in his delineation; and, third, that it 
be suggestive and not literal. Each one of these points will 
bear some amplification. 

You cannot tell what you do not know, express what 
you do not understand; neither can you portray a scene 
that is not minutely and distinctly photographed on your 
own mind. 

Be consistent. Suppose you are describing a battle scene. 
Do not place the cavalry on top of the infantry, but some- 
where beyond; and when in the progress of battle, do 
not have the cavalry on one side charge upon its own in- 
fantry. Lay the scene, if possible, on the platform a little 
to your right or left and a little in front of you — at an 
angle of 45 degrees. Avoid placing your scene in the audi- 
ence or back of you. If you are following the eagle in its 
flight, point up and out at the same angle. Scenes that 
take place at a distance demand that you do not point to 
them as though they were within three feet of you. Again, 
do not combine impersonation with description. When you 
are impersonating some one, you may act as he might 
under the circumstances, but when you are telling what he 
did, you must portray the scene at some distance from you, 
where both your audience and you may look at it. When 
you call the attention of the audience to an object, your 
eyes will first move in that direction ; immediately your head, 
body, and hand must follow your eyes. You must look in 



234 Oral Reading and Public Speaking/ 1 

the direction you point, but do not continue to do so ; your 
eyes must turn back again to the audience. Remember you 
are speaking to the audience and wish to call their attention 
to your picture. Your eyes maj^ flit, back and forth a few 
times between them and your object. In description never 
call attention to yourself. When you do that, the audience 
sees you and loses sight of the picture. For example, when 
describing the flight of an eagle, do not flap your hands 
as though they were wings and you the bird. The imagina- 
tion of your hearers will create a better eagle with you out 
of the picture. Neither do as the boy did, when telling 
about the mouth of a hydra-headed monster, by pointing 
to his own mouth. Although telling how Napoleon walked 
along the banks of the Seine with his hands behind his back, 
you have not the liberty to play the part of the Emperor 
by folding your hands behind you. It is possible that our 
imaginative picture of Napoleon might lose some of its ma- 
jesty by your impersonation. 

Descriptive gestures should be suggestive. In tracing the 
history of gestures, we find first what may be called the 
colossal or effusive age, when gestures were many and elab- 
orate. Then came the realistic age — the period of realism, 
when everything was to be true to nature, and every gesture 
literal. We have now advanced to the suggestive age, 
when a few waves of the hand are, frequently, all that is 
needed to present the basic outline of the picture, leaving 
the details to the imagination of the crowd; like a modern 
school of painters, who make a few fundamental strokes 
with their brushes, and behold! a picture is before you. 
Your imagination has supplied the details. 

Sometimes a scene may be presented in detail by a 
speaker, making it dramatic and very effective. It is ab- 
surd, however, to "act out" the literal meaning of figura- 
tive language. In the statement "Go back with me to the 
commencement of this century, etc.," do not turn around 
and point backward. A prospective orator at a recent de- 



Physical Expression 235 

clamation contest was observed to trace with his hands the 
circumference of an imaginary circle parallel with the floor 
when he recited the words, "He ascended the ladder of fame 
round by round." When speaking of love, do not place 
your hand on your heart. 

2. Locative Gestures. These are used to point out or 
refer to persons or objects that actually may be seen by the 
audience, or in suggesting geographical directions. For 
the former, the index finger is appropriate. For the latter, 
the open hand may be used. Example: "Thou art the 
man." The index finger would be used. "To the south of 
us lies Mexico, perhaps the home of the brave, but not 
the land of the free." Here the open hand would be ap- 
propriate. 

3. Emphatic Gestures. Gesture for emphasis is most 
commonly used by the public speaker. It aids the vocal ex- 
pression by impressing upon the eye as well as. the ear the 
important parts of a sentence. The essentials are a quick 
downward stroke of the arm and hand. The length of the 
stroke depends on the amount of emphasis; it usually does 
not proceed below the waist line. There should be no re- 
bound, a habit of many speakers. When you make an em- 
phatic gesture, do not permit your body to be pulled over 
to one side. Remain erect. Both hands may be used when 
great emphasis is desired. If only a few gestures are made, 
use the right hand only. The Greeks did not use the left 
hand independently of the right. In fact, the left was merely 
used as an aid to the right, when used at all. Their form 
of dress — a cloak thrown loosely over the left shoulder 
and arm — prevented a free use of this arm for expression. 
We are not so handicapped. Do not indicate emphasis by 
pounding the desk or striking the fist of one hand into the 
palm of the other. "Let your moderation be known unto 
all men." 

4. Question Gestures. Frequently a rhetorical question 



£36 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

or a direct question is asked of the audience. The desired 
gesture is made by extending the right hand or both hands 
as you would if you were asking for the loan of a dollar 
and expected to get it. The palm of the hand should be 
up and the gesture should be completed on the important 
word of the question, usually the last word. The appeal 
is a modification of this gesture, often made with both hands. 

Emotional Gestures. These express the feelings and 
emotions of the individual .; their office is "the revelation of 
hidden meanings." Words feebly express emotions, yet this 
important mental condition must be expressed in some way. 

Your first expressive gesture was a smile, in response to 
a smile that was just as sweet. It was an expression of 
contentment, of satisfaction with your early environment. 
From that day to this you have daily made manifest the 
emotional life within you. Now, you lowered your eye- 
brows, pulled down the corners of your mouth, pressed 
your teeth tightly together, doubled up your fists, took 
one step forward — to show to your friends that you were 
angry. At another time, your eyebrows were raised, your 
eyes were opened wide, your mouth ajar, your hands partly 
raised, your body bent backward — to express your great 
surprise or astonishment. 

On or off the platform you are continually exhibiting 
your moods and feelings ; and doing it more truthfully than 
with your tongue. You may say you are brave, but the 
trembling lip, the quaking knee, the haunted eye, the ner- 
vous step, — prove that you are not brave. We often read 
where young maidens when asked if they loved, said, "No," 
with their lips, but their eyes said, "Yes." 

On the platform you cannot fool an audience. You may 
say you are sincere, in earnest, and deeply concerned; but 
unless you really are, insincerity and indifference speak 
from every muscle of your body, and far more loudly than 
your words. When you are really sad, you will naturally 



Physical Expression 237 

take on the physical signs, or external manifestation. No 
one needs to tell you how to twist your mouth or curl your 
nose. Nature will take care of that, if you will permit her 
to do so. Again, it is important to note that the rule 
works the other way. If you wish to be sad, assume the 
physical attitude, and you will soon feel the emotion. In 
a dark night, just start to run and imagine something 
is after you, and see how long it will be until you feel 
frightened. 

General Principles. I. From Within Out. All ges- 
tures must have their impulse in the mind. Never permit 
yourself to "beat the air" or go through all kinds of con- 
tortions in a vain attempt to express what you do not un- 
derstand or feel. You must want to gesture. Any gesture 
stuck into a speech at regular intervals because your 
teacher told you to do so, is artificial, unnatural, ineffec- 
tive, and never reinforces the delivery. However, slight im- 
pulses should at times be encouraged and developed into a 
graceful coadjutor to delivery. 

II. Gestures Should Be Made from the Chest as a Center. 
The impulse must originate in the mind, and as it struggles 
for expression through the hand, it must travel through 
the shoulder, arm, wrist, hand, fingers, consecutively. This 
impulse should be observed to pass as a wave along the arm. 
Again, the gesture is made outward, not toward the chest; 
also, downward and upward from the chest. 

III. The Curve Is the Line of Grace and Beauty. Avoid 
angular movements. The preparatory movements should 
always be in a curved line. The downward stroke of the 
emphatic gesture may be quite direct. The stroke departs 
from the curve and approximates the straight line in pro- 
portion to the force of the gesture used. Avoid the pump- 
handle movement of the arm and an inflexible wrist. Do not 
extend your arms at right angles to your body, like a 
clothes rack. 



238 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

IV. A Gesture Either Precedes or Accompanies the Vocal 
Expression. Descriptive and locative gestures usually pre- 
cede the vocal expression. Example : "I bid you, Go !" 
The force of the gesture is increased if the finger points 
to the open door prior to the utterance of the word "Go." 
The added force is the result of the mental suspense. The 
emphatic and the question gestures are usually given simul- 
taneously with the vocal utterance, since they are only 
auxiliaries to the voice. 

V. Every Part of the Body Must Act Harmoniously. The 
eye must not say one thing and the hands another and the 
feet something else. Neither can one part act alone. Each 
division of the body must play its part in every gesture 
no matter how trivial. You cannot stand like a drunkard 
and look and speak like a king. The width of your "base" 
must be in proportion to the scope of your gesture. 

The Mechanics of Gesture. There are three parts to 
most gestures: I. the Preparation, II. the Execution, and 
III. the Return. These divisions are best explained by 
taking an example: "They were souls that stood alone." 
In wishing to emphasize the word "alone," with a downward 
stroke, the preparation consists in first conceiving the idea ; 
the entire body must join the hand in preparing for this 
gesture. As the impulse travels down the arm, the arm 
takes on life at the shoulder; the elbow is bent, the fore- 
arm curves slightly inward and moves upward, the wrist 
leading; the hand, with fingers slightly curved, is raised 
about on the level with the head. This is the preparation. 
The execution comes with a quick, straight downward 
stroke, until the hand is on a level with the waist line. In 
this stroke the wrist stiffens and the entire arm becomes 
quite rigid. The impulse goes out through the fingers, 
which straighten out. This final ictus, or kick, of the fin- 
gers must not be omitted. Remember that the impulse is 
to be sent out to the audience, and not lodged in the elbow 



Physical Expression 239 

or wrist, with a resulting- lifeless hand. The hand should 
be opened toward the audience, — palm, thumb, and fingers 
— neither perpendicularly nor horizontally, neither rigid 
nor lifeless. In the return the muscles of the arm and wrist 
are relaxed and the arm falls back to the side of the body 
in a natural position. The return must not show a "lifeless" 
arm. It must not fall so as to slap against the side of the 
body, and jingle the keys or coins in your pocket. 

The preparation should be slow and begin on the first 
word, "They," and rise until the word "stood" is reached. 
There will be an emphatic pause before the word "alone" ; 
during this pause the hand must be poised in the air ; in the 
execution of the stroke the word "alone" is spoken with em- 
phasis. 

The question gesture is made in about the same way ex- 
cept that the arm is not raised on high and the hand is 
turned supine while being extended. These gestures are not 
easy in execution and require much practice to attain grace 
and ease. 

Time well the preparation. Most novices begin too soon 
and raise the hand too rapidly. There should be no "re- 
bound" on the stroke. One gesture can often be used as 
a preparation for a second. Thus one gesture may be made 
to glide into another. Seldom should the arm or hand re- 
main suspended in the air for any length of time. Keep 
your hands in motion or let them hang quietly by your side. 

The preparation is important and is in itself significant. 
Roosevelt, in using this gesture, slowly raises his hand above 
his head, making a long preparation ; and during this period 
the audience is holding its breath because that hand must 
come down, and it usually does very forcefully upon some 
very important and emphatic phrase. 

Planes of Gestures. Three horizontal planes are usu- 
ally recognized: I. Elevated plane with the head as the 
center; II. the Horizontal plane with the chest as the cen- 



240 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

ter; and III. the Downward plane with the waist line as the 
center. 

Vertically, nearly all the gestures should be made midway 
between the front and side. The question gesture is made 
more dirjectly in front. 

On the Platform. You are seated on the platform, or, 
perchance, you may be called from the audience. In either 
case, the moment you rise from your seat, you begin to 
speak — with your body. It is possible that while still seated 
upon the platform, you expressed your personality; and 
impressed the audience favorably or prejudiced them, 
against you. Sit erect in your chair, feet flat upon the 
floor, knees close together. Do not show the soles of your 
shoes to your audience. Gentlemen may put one knee over 
the other, but not the ankle of one foot on top of the knee 
of the other leg. Practice getting out of your chair grace- 
fully. Usually just after rising, make a slight bow to the 
presiding officer and at the same time say, "Mr. Chairman." 
The chairman remains standing until he has acknowledged 
your salutation. Should the chairman call you to the plat- 
form from the audience, it is sometimes best not to address 
the chair until after you are in position to speak. 

Walk easily, spiritedly, and quietly to the center of the 
stage, and, ordinarily, stop when about three feet from the 
front edge. Do not walk in a straight line, but curve 
slightly inward, so as to approach the front of the stage 
directly from the rear. Guard against overdoing the curve. 
Do not march like a soldier on parade, nor, cat-like, tiptoe 
to your position. 

You are standing before the audience; shall you bow? 
Not unless you are a celebrity and you are greeted with 
"prolonged and enthusiastic applause." When the 'applause 
ceases, or if there is no applause, as soon as you find your- 
self in a position to speak, wait a second, take a good, deep 
breath (it will relieve your embarrassment), and take a good 



Physical Expression 241 

look at your audience. Stand erect, chest out, head up, 
hands hanging loosely by your side, one foot slightly in 
advance of the other — and you are ready to say, "Ladies 
and Gentlemen," in a pure, clear, deliberate, intelligent and 
respectful manner. Never begin speaking before you are in 
position. Always face your audience squarely. Do not 
present a side view. Avoid turning your head from side 
to side without turning your entire body, including your 
feet. Avoid keeping your feet still and swaying your body 
from side to side, like a little school girl who swings her 
body in unison with the rhythm of her selection. This sway- 
ing is encouraged when neither foot is in advance of the 
other. Do not shift too often, neither should you stand 
like a wooden Indian before a cigar store. When you come 
to a transition in your thought, indicate this by changing 
your position. If your right foot is in advance of the left, 
step forward with your left foot, or step backward with 
your right. One step is usually sufficient. Take two steps 
for a very important transition. Your weight should be 
on your rear foot when delivering unemotional matter, but 
when you become in earnest always move your weight to 
the front foot. 

When addressing the right half of the audience, it is well 
to face the far corner of the room. Your right foot should 
be in advance of the left and you will gesture with your 
right hand or with both hands. When in this position, 
never gesture toward the left half of the audience. This 
compels the right hand to cross in front of the body and 
also makes you twist your body, presenting a side view to 
the audience. 

Do not hang on one hip, leaning over like a tired horse. 
Avoid raising both heels from the floor at the same time, 
or bending your ankle and standing on the edge of your 
foot. The most difficult task the young speaker has to 
accomplish is to keep his hands in view of the audience. 
His feet seem to him conspicuous enough ; but his hands ! 



242 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

He just must do something with them, so he puts them in 
his pockets, behind his back, folds them in front of him, 
twists the lapel of his coat, or his watch chain — instead of 
letting them fall where the attraction of gravity will take 
them. 

It has been well said that no man can consider himself 
a speaker until he can stand still. Stand quiet until the 
motion of your body directly aids your vocal expression ; 
and when that time comes, do not give a "hunch" with your 
shoulder, or a jerk with your hand, but let that impulse 
develop into a graceful and helpful gesture. 

The number of gestures depends on your temperament, 
your earnestness and the nature of the thought or feeling 
you desire to express. But by all means seek a variety of 
gestures. Do not use the same one a number of times in 
succession. 

Your action should not be so distinctively individualistic 
and eccentric as to identify you whenever you speak. 

Do not pace the platform,. Those who do, have the ap- 
pearance of a tiger trying to get out of his cage. But if 
you find it necessary to take a few steps, be sure that it is 
done while you are speaking, or "walk on .the lines" as the 
actors say ; but do not take your eyes from the audience to 
look where you step. Do not lean on the desk beside you. 
But it is permissible to rest lightly one or both hands on 
a table or desk when it gives you a "restful" appearance. 

If you want your coat buttoned, attend to it before you 
get on the platform; and do not change your mind about 
it after you begin speaking. If you must use your hand- 
kerchief, take it from your pocket or from the desk while 
you are speaking, calling as little attention to it as possible. 
Remember that any motion that does not directly aid you 
detracts from your effectiveness. 

When you have completed your speech, make a slight bow 
to your audience and quietly resume your seat. 



Physical Expression 243 

A Closing Word. Some will say that all such minute 
directions are nonsense. "If I have anything to say, I get 
up and say it; and if I must remember all the mechanical 
rules suggested while on the platform, I couldn't think of 
anything to say." That is the greatest deception on the 
American platform to-day. Students appear before the 
public to speak before they have mastered the first principle 
of public speaking, and some even think themselves adepts. 
The same logic would place before a suffering public young 
musicians before they had mastered their first lesson on 
the piano, or before they could sing the scale. Usually in 
music we are willing to drill upon fundamental technique 
until it becomes automatic, until our fingers unconsciously 
go to the right key as soon as the eye sees the note. He 
who desires to become a speaker, must master the simple 
rules of the platform and practice them until they become 
automatic ; and when he has done that, he is ready to devote 
all his time to the thought side of his speech and his action 
on the platform will be properly performed ; and he will then 
be on the right road to becoming a successful speaker. If 
you could see yourself, while on the stage, as others see you, 
you would be more willing to improve your physical ex- 
pression. 

The intellectual gestures, which are more mechanical than 
the emotional, may well be practiced before a mirror for the 
attainment of graceful and effective movements. Delsarte, 
physical culture, gymnastic exercise, are valuable to prac- 
tice in your room, to make your body more flexible, grace- 
ful, and powerful; but do not impose these physical calis- 
thenics upon the audience while speaking. 

After all, the training of students in physical expression 
should, for the most part, be negative. Tell them what to 
avoid — what not to do. Direct their movements ; do not 
create them. Ideal bodily expression is suggested in the 
lines ; 



244 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

"His pure and eloquent blood 
Spoke in his cheek, and, so distinctly wrought, 
That one might almost say his body thought." 

CALISTHENICS PREPARATORY TO GESTURE 

I. Stand erect, chest prominent, body in easy poise. 

II. Dangle the hands, and shake the arms freely from 
the shoulders (a) at the side; (b) held horizontally in front, 
and (c) horizontally at the side. 

III. Rotate the body on the hip-joints, letting the arms 
and hands swing freely. Begin slowly, turning the trunk 
and head as much as possible, then gradually accelerate 
until the movement is as rapid and energetic as possible. 

IV. Raise the upper arm slowly, the forearm and hand 
trailing. Now unfold the arm and hand by consciously vital- 
izing in turn the forearm, wrist, palm, fingers, the hand 
opening at about the level of the hips and midway between 
the front and side. Practice this with the right arm and 
hand, then the left, then both together. 

V. The same as No. IV, except that the hands are to be 
unfolded at about the level of the shoulders. 

VI. Practice the foregoing unfolding movement, first 
with one arm and hand, and then with both together, the 
hands unfolding directly in front at first ; then, in succession, 
during five or six repetitions, end the movement at varying 
angles between the front and the side. 

VII. Move your arm and hand up and down, your wrist 
preceding, letting your hand and fingers bend as the hair of 
a brush when painting. 

VIII. Imagine you are raising a pound ball held in the 
palm of the hand; raise it to a level with the head, then cast 
it down, letting it roll out of the palm and over the fingers. 

IX. Practice turning from side to side. First turn your 
eyes to the right, then turn your face in that direction, step 
back with the right foot and as you do so swing your body 
toward the right and at the same time turn the left heel 



Physical Expression 245 

outward. 

X. Turn toward the left in a similar manner. 



EXAMPLES FOR DRILL IN MECHANICS OF GESTURE 

I. Descriptive Gesture: 

1. The hawk swooped down to the ground and carried away a 
little chick. 

2. Two armies were encamped on opposite sides of the river. 
The. Federals here., the Constitutionalists, there. A mile down 
the river was a lake. Overhead the sun looked down on the silver 
stream as it flowed peacefully towards its goal. 

3. I had rather have lived in a hut with the vines growing 
over the door and the grapes growing purple in the kisses of the 
autumn sun, with my loving wife knitting by my side as the day 
died out of the sky. 

Happiness and Liberty. Ingersoll. 

4. The assassin enters, through the window already prepared, 
into an unoccupied apartment. With noiseless foot he paces the 
lonely hall half-lighted by the moon. He winds up the ascent of 
the stairs and reaches the door of the chamber. He enters and 
beholds his victim before him. The face of the innocent sleeper 
is turned from the murderer, and the beams of the moon, resting 
on the gray locks of the aged temples, show him where to strike. 
The fatal blow is given. The murderer retreats, retraces his 
steps to the window, passes out through it as he came in, and 
escapes. 

The White Murder Trial. Webster. 

5. She cut his bonds. He stood upright, looked round with 
,a laugh of wild exultation, clapped his hands together, sprang 

from the ground as if in transport on finding himself at liberty. 
He looked so wild that Jeanie trembled at what she had done. 

"Let me out," said the young savage. 

"I wanna, unless you promise — " 

"Then I'll make you glad to let us both out." 

He seized the lighted candle and threw it among the flax, 
which was instantly in a flame. Jeanie screamed and ran out of 
the room; the prisoner rushed passed her, threw open a window 
in the passage, jumped into the garden, sprang over its inclosure, 
bounded through the woods like a deer, and gained the seashore. 



246 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Meantime, the fire was extinguished; but the prisoner was sought 
in vain. 

The Heart of Midlothian. Scott. 

6. The dog now aroused himself and sat on his haunches, his 
ears moving quickly backward and forwards. He kept his eyes 
fixed on me with a look so strange that he concentrated all my 
attention to himself. Slowly he rose up, all his hair bristling, 
and stood perfectly rigid, and with the same wild stare. I had 
no time, however, to examine the dog. Presently my servant 
emerged from his room; and if I ever saw horror in the human 
face, it was then. He passed by me quickly, saying, in a whis- 
per, "Run, run ! it is after me !" He gained the door to the land- 
ing, pulled it open, and rushed forth. I followed him into the 
landing involuntarily, calling him to stop; but, without heeding 
me, he bounded down the stairs, clinging to the banisters, and 
taking several steps at a time. I heard, where I stood, the street 
door open, — heard it clap to. I was left alone in the haunted 
house. 

The Haunted and the Haunters. • Poe. 

7. A granite cliff on either shore: 

A highway poised in air; 
Above the wheels of traffic roar; 
Below, the fleets sail fair; — 

And in and out, forever more, 

The surging tides of ocean pour, 
And past the towers the white gulls soar, 
And winds the sea-clouds bear. 
The Brooklyn Bridge. Proctor. 

8. "And now depart! and when 

Thy heart is heavy, and thine eyes are dim, 
Lift up thy prayer beseechingly to Him 

Who, from the tribes of men, ( . 

Selected thee to feel his chastening rod, 
Depart! O leper! and forget not God!" 
The Leper. Willis. 

II. Locative Gesture: 

1. Go! you will find the door open. 

2. I mean you, and you, and you. 

3. Do you see the bird on that twig? 



Physical Expression 247 

4. The South is the land of promise. 

5. Thou art the man. 

III". Emphatic Gesture: 

1. I demand to know the truth. 

2. Jack, you are not my friend. 

3. I love him because he is truthful. 

4. I will never stoop to conquer. 

5. "Too low they build who build beneath the stars." 

6. "This restless world is full of chances." 

7. "My answer will be a blow." 

8. "The motive is unworthy." 

9. "Truth gives wings to strength." 

10. "Trust men and they will be true to you." 

IV. Question Gesture: 

1. Must I stand here and beg? 

2. Is wisdom better than rubies? 

3. Is wisdom the principal thing? 

4. Have I not proved this proposition ? 

5. Must I lend you a dollar? 

V. Emotional Gesture: 

1. Let a number of students get on the stage and look in- 
tently at some object. Have criticisms come from the class. 

2. Bring to the class a written report of your observa- 
tions of the "foot work" of some speaker. 

8. Observe a group of children playing. Imitate before 
the class the physical expression of some one child and have 
the class determine the mood illustrated. 

4. Have each student in turn express bodily certain gen- 
eral types of emotions, as : Joy, Grief, Love, Hate, Cour- 
age, Fear, Hope, Despair, Defiance, Anger, Surprise. 



CHAPTER VI 

FORMS OF PUBLIC ADDRESS 

Numerous and varied have been the classifications of pub- 
lic addresses. The classification here used is both historic 
and psychologic. Public speech is primarily a mental pro- 
cess — one mind must influence other minds. The method 
employed is largely dependent on the purpose of the ad- 
dress : what is the main object of the speaker in making 
the speech ? And this chief purpose must never be lost sight 
of by the speaker. The speaker may desire I. to give in- 
formation ; II. to arouse the emotions ; III. to move men to 
action; or to make a choice; or IV. a combination of these 
purposes. 

I. The Essay. This form of public speaking is primar- 
ily intellectual. It is that form of public address wherein 
is used such material, style of composition, and manner of 
delivery as will convey best to the minds of the listeners the 
information the speaker has to impart. The purpose is to 
convince. The essay is usually read from a manuscript, 
however, the purpose of the address, not the manner of de- 
livery, determines its classification. It may be 1. descrip- 
tive, 2. expository, 3. narrative, or 4. argumentative. It is 
descriptive when it delineates the attributes of an object 
with respect to some one period of time. It is a vocal pho- 
tograph. The description may be so vivid, so artistic as to 
arouse various emotions and actions ; but that is a secondary 
effect, not a primary purpose. It is narrative when it re- 
lates the succession of events. The purpose is to tell what 
happened. It is expository when some subject is outlined 

248 



Forms of Public Address £49 

and developed. It formulates a logical definition, describing 
its limitations, and is usually applied to some abstract sub- 
ject. Exposition explains and teaches. It is argumen- 
tative when its aim is to take certain facts and principles 
to discover other facts and principles not yet known. It 
is a process of reasoning used to convince the mind of the 
truth or falsity of a certain proposition. Argumentation 
is the process of reaching out after the unknown, a search 
after the truth. The evidence used, the process employed, 
and the resulting conclusion or inference is called proof. 
The argumentative essay usually will have for its introduc- 
tion a definition of terms, a history of the question under 
discussion, and the partition or general divisions. The body 
consists of an outline of the merits and demerits of the prop- 
osition. The conclusion should state the writer's final con- 
victions in the matter and a brief summary of the points 
which determined his decision, or the conclusion he has 
reached after a thorough and impartial investigation. 

The argumentative essay is not unlike a debate, but both 
sides usually are presented by the writer. Remember when 
writing an essay always to have a definite audience or a 
particular class of readers in mind. In Part III of this 
volume will be found some examples of the essay type of 
address. 

II. The Oration. The purpose of the oration is to move 
the will. When the will is stimulated, it functions in two 
ways — through action and by choosing. The orator's duty 
is not completed when he has convinced his hearers or 
aroused their emotions : he must persuade them to act or 
make a decision. Now, the will is moved through the me- 
dium of the emotions ; the emotions are excited by ideas 
operating on the mind. Any idea clearly, concisely and 
fully comprehended by the intellect awakens in the indi- 
vidual certain emotions which correspond to that idea. 
When the emotions dominate the will, expression of the idea 



250 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

is attempted if possible; if an objective expression is not 
possible at that time, a resolution is formed to carry out 
that impulse at some future time. Thus we see that the 
oratorical process is indirect, intricate, and difficult. 

The definite means employed by the orator will be dis- 
cussed in other chapters. But it should be borne clearly 
in mind that the presentation of a convincing array of 
facts, the portrayal of vivid pictures, the tapping of the 
fountains of the emotions, the swaying of the crowd from 
joy to tears, from tears to joy, from anger to humility, 
from humility to anger, adding fuel to fire, compelling the 
crowd to see but one definite picture and to feel one definite 
emotion at a time, until the cumulative effect is manifested 
in positive voluntary action, — this is the task of the orator. 
All this and nothing less. "Oratory," says Beecher, "is 
the art of influencing conduct with truth sent home by all 
the resources of the living man." There is, perhaps, no bet- 
ter model of oratory, also illustrating the sequel of a success- 
ful effort in this field, than the funeral oration of Mark 
Antony over the body of Julius Caesar. About all the "re- 
sources of the living man" were utilized, and the result proved 
the wisdom of the means employed when the mob, overwhelmed 
by the single idea of revenge, carried out the wishes of the 
orator. 

Suggested Outline. First of all, when you attempt to 
write an oration, do not write an essay ; remember that an 
oration appeals to the will through the emotions, and that 
it is not primarily argumentative. In writing an essay, you 
describe, narrate, or explain; in a debate, you argue, prove, 
and convince; but when you deliver an oration, you assert 
and persuade. Remember, again, that the orator is a leader, 
and as such the people have confidence in him ; that when 
a statement is made, it is presumed that the orator has 
thought out the whole problem, considered all sides of the 
question, and is now giving the result of his deliberation; 
and the audience does not care to be carried through all the 



Forms of Public Address • 251 

diverse and devious ways along which the speaker himself 
passed to arrive at the conviction which he now holds, but 
is ready to listen to his conclusions. 

Subject. An oration should be written upon some fun- 
damental and universal subject, some theme which will move 
men to action. You can write an essay on "Radium," 
"Flying Machines," etc. ; but for an oration you want a 
subject like "Child Labor," or "The Influence of the 
Mother." It must be some phase of Duty, Happiness, or 
Virtue. If you write on a subject like "Robert E. Lee," 
be careful not to make it biographical. Your oration for 
contest purposes should be typical, and therefore should 
be patterned after the other forms of orations. 

The model oration must have an appropriate introduc- 
tion, in length about one-tenth of the entire production. 
It may be a general statement bearing directly on the theme, 
or it may present an interesting, graphic picture germane 
to the subject. In this the oration and essay differ little. 

The body of the oration, about eight times the length of 
the introduction, should be divided into two parts: 1. the 
problem, 2. the solution. The problem deals with some 
present need, something which formerly existed or which 
should now be changed, some wrong that should be righted. 
It presents a dark picture, and the blacker this can be 
painted the better. The solution solves the problem ; ex- 
plains the remedy for the past or present ills. It portrays 
a bright picture, the whiter the better. The conclusion is 
an appeal to the audience to accept the orator's solution 
of the problem. 

To illustrate: Suppose* the subject is "George Washing- 
ton." The introduction will dwell on heroes, the value of 
great men, etc. ; or, perhaps, will present a picture of a 
young surveyor, or a description of a vine-clad mansion 
on a Virginia plantation. Since the purpose of an intro- 
duction is to gain the good will of the audience and to 
arouse interest, the particular type is not essential. The 



252 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

problem might narrate the critical political situation of 
the Colonists at the beginning of the American Revolution, 
and the dangers threatening the new Federation. The so- 
lution would explain how Washington solved this problem, 
overcame the existing evils, and became a mighty factor in 
establishing the United States, discussing especially such 
traits of Washington as were exercised in solving the prob- 
lems before him. The conclusion would be an appeal to the 
audience to accept the judgment of the orator in his selec- 
tion of those characteristics, and an encouragement to 
cultivate similar virtues in solving their own problems. 

Again, "An Unknown Hero." Problem: The awful con- 
dition of the lepers on Molokai Island, and their need of a 
friend. Solution: Father Damien's sacrifice in going to 
their assistance and ameliorating their condition. Conclu- 
sion: "Go thou and do likewise" to fellow-beings in distress, 
and exercise the virtues of the Unknown Hero. 

Again, take some social, economical, or political subject; 
as, "Modern Moloch." Problem: Frightful condition of 
child labor. Solution : Equal suffrage, or Socialism, or any 
other remedy which may seem adequate. Conclusion: Vote 
right, or apply the remedy suggested. 

Time usually permits of but one big problem and one 
appropriate solution. There can be no fixed ratio relative 
to the problem and solution. Sometimes the problem is 
by far the more important; sometimes the problem may 
almost be conceded ; it may be an evil so prominent that it 
is universally recognized and admitted, hence should be 
touched on lightly. Again, the solution may often be granted 
if the problem is manifest. However, an appropriate prob- 
lem and adequate solution must always be in evidence in 
some degree. 

Since an oration is designed to persuade the hearer to 
perform some act, there must necessarily be something to 
be changed. The will is not stimulated to activity without 
an incentive. The audience must be made conscious that 



Forms of Public Address -. £53 

present conditions are not satisfactory. But this is not 
sufficient. A reasonable remedy must be advanced or the 
will still refuses to act. The appeal must strike home ; to 
be effective, it must be made as personal as possible. 

Read carefully the oration in Part III of this book en- 
titled "The Field of Conflict," by James F. Rippy. 

Orations may be given the following subdivisions : 

1. Forensic. The term "forensic" comes from the Latin 
"forensis," the forum, or market place; the court-room 
where every Roman could speak in defense of himself or his 
friend. It is usually an attempt to arrive at some conclu- 
sion concerning facts that have occurred in the past. Hence 
it is often called the oratory of the bar, and is to some de- 
gree argumentative in character. However, it is the pur- 
pose of the lawyer to persuade the jury or judge to vote 
in favor of his client. The final result is immediate action. 
Study in this connection Daniel Webster's "Jury Address" 
and Robert Emmett's "Vindication." 

Formal debating, separately. treated in Chapter IX, is a 
special form of forensic oratory and has for a long time 
been recognized as a very important phase of public speak- 
ing. It is an intellectual battle, and most of our great 
speakers received their early training in debating societies. 

2. Deliberative. The oratory of the assembly. Any 
speech made with the purpose of inducing an audience to 
accept or reject a given policy for the future may be called 
a deliberative speech. This includes not only speeches made 
in congressional and parliamentary assemblies, but in all 
deliberative bodies such as synods, conferences, and other 
public meetings. Examples : "Freedom or Slavery," by 
Patrick Henry ; and ' "Gettysburg Address," by Abraham 
Lincoln. 

3. Pulpit. This is the oratory of the Church. More 
sermons are delivered in the United States in a week than 



254 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

any other form of public address. Most of the preaching 
to-day is expository in outline; but most of the evangelical 
sermons follow this plan. That is, "Christ" is the subject 
for each sermon. After an appropriate introduction some 
form of sin is the theme, which is the problem. After this 
has been denounced in no uncertain terms, the solution is 
advanced. Christ came to save men from sin. In the con- 
clusion we have an appeal to the audience to accept the so- 
lution to the problem ; and they are urged to receive Christ 
into their own lives to cleanse them from their sins. Ex- 
amples : "The Evil That Men Do Lives After Them," by 
Phillips Brooks. 

4. Demonstrative, or Occasional, includes a miscella- 
neous group of public address dealing with affairs of the 
present time. The principal subdivisions are: A. Eulogy, 
B. Commemorative Address, C. Political or Campaign 
Speech, D. Short Address, or informal "talks," and E. 
After-Dinner Speech. For illustrative examples, see Part 
III. 

A. The Eulogy. This is a very common form of address. 
Be careful that the eulogies are not made too biographical. 
They are in the main a recount of such qualities of a great 
man as served to make him famous. Remember that the 
general setting or the atmosphere of the Eulogy must har- 
monize with the occasion. Death is an occasion for kind 
words and lofty, reverential ideas. Your style need not be 
direct nor commonplace, but should be chaste, lofty, and 
beautiful. 

B. The Commemorative Address. These occasional ad- 
dresses are very popular and sometimes quite formal. Un- 
der this heading may be grouped the following divisions : 

a. Anniversaries. Commemorating such events as birth- 
days of great men, noted battles, important discoveries, na- 
tional holidays, etc. 



Forms of Public Address 255 

b. Dedications. These addresses are given at the laying 
of the corner stone of buildings, celebrating the completion 
of a church, a monument, or a hall, etc. 

c. Unveilings. These are occasioned by the presenta- 
tion of a statue, a fountain, or a painting, to the public or 
to some organization. 

d. Commencement Address. This is a very familiar 
form of public address delivered to graduating classes and 
their friends. 

e. Miscellaneous Types. Speeches of Welcome, of Fare- 
well, of Introduction, of Acceptation, Nomination, and 
many other forms may be enumerated. 

The style of composition does not differ greatly from that 
used in the Eulogy. The diction should be exalted, and in 
keeping with the occasion. Two main lines of thought are 
usually followed, (1) An exposition or a narration of the 
events, and (2) An estimate of the significance and impor- 
tance of the occasion. Illustrative types may be found in 
Part III. 

C. The Political Speech. This form is familiar to every 
boy and girl. It is the "stump" speech heard with biennial 
regularity. The purpose is to secure the votes of the peo- 
ple at the next election. Since the election does not take 
place at the close of the speech, this form is more argu- 
mentative than sermons or most jury addresses. Though 
appeals to the emotions are not lacking, vivid pictures fade 
as days pass by ; but good, sound reasoning, plain, solid 
facts invite thought and stand the test of time. It enables 
the voter to compare the arguments advanced by the vari- 
ous candidates at his leisure. If the voter is a man of 
judgment and not too biased, he must eventually decide 
to vote for the man presenting the most plausible argument, 
and not for the "barn stormer" and the "spellbinder." The 
following illustration from an article in the Reader Maga- 
zine, by Mr. Herbert Quick, in October, 1907, needs no 
comment : 



£56 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

This "natural orator" [speaking of a gubernatorial campaign 
in Georgia] was the handsome, eloquent, convivial, jovial, and 
kind-hearted lieutenant governor, Dr. R. M. Cunningham, who 
challenged Mr. Comer to a joint debate, and fared as did the 
first opponent of Tom Johnson, of Cleveland, in Johnson's first 
campaign. In both cases it was a spellbinder against the man 
with the bludgeon of facts. Dr. Cunningham felt at once that 
new standards of discussion had been set up. His eloquent trib- 
utes to the beauty of Alabama's women and the chivalry of her 
sons were as fine as heart could wish. Comer stuck to freight 
rates. Cunningham cried out in polished periods for good 
roads. Everybody is for good roads, said Comer, but how about 
the pass evil and the lobby? Cunningham drew tears as he 
spoke for the "old veterans." Comer replied that he was one 
of them, while Cunningham was not; but how about reciprocal 
demurrage? Then Cunningham came over to Comer's platform, 
and demanded more reform than did Comer. Comer, clinging 
to his man like a bulldog, replied that this was unconstitutional 
nonsense. Gradually it dawned on the spellbinder that some- 
thing was walking remorselessly over him, trampling out his 
political life, and that the something was Braxton Bragg Comer, 
the man who could not make a speech. Comer carried sixty of 
the sixty-seven counties of the state, and won by twenty thou- 
sand votes. 

D. The Short Address. Many informal talks are made 
every day — five- or ten-minute speeches. These, as a rule, 
have no introduction and no formal conclusion. The ob- 
ject is to present in as brief and succinct a manner as pos- 
sible some one point. These short speeches have become of 
the utmost importance in our busy life. Legislation is 
decided in committee rooms, not on the floor of our legisla- 
tive halls. So important, indeed, is this type of address that 
the next chapter treats of it exclusively. 

E. After-Dinner Speeches. If you are going to take a 
leading part in the community in which you live you fre- 
quently will be called upon to give an after-dinner speech. 

To give a speech of this character is no easy task. Study 
carefully some good after-dinner addresses. Henry W. 
Grady, Mark Twain, and Henry Van Dyke are good speak- 



Forms of Public Address 257 

ers to follow. 

It is presumed by all on such an occasion that everybody 
is contented, happy, and in a jovial mood. Do not preach 
to your hearers. They expect to be entertained and amused. 
They do not care to do any hard thinking. So give them 
something light and diverting, but do not be silly. Many 
begin with a story. Some end with a story; some have 
nothing but stories all the way through. Suppose you vary 
this program a little. Begin without a story. You might 
have a few appropriate ones to illustrate a point now and 
then, but be sure they are not too familiar. Nothing else 
that you can say would be quite so complete a failure as to 
have your speech filled with stories that everybody knows. 
A good story is not easy to find, and very difficult to tell 
successfully. Watch the magazines and newspapers for 
good jokes; keep a number on tap; they will be of great 
service to you as a speaker on various occasions. 

Though you do not want to give anything heavy at such 
a time, do, by all means, say something worth while; but 
tell it in a pleasing way. To speak briefly, to make a good 
point, to be entertaining, are the essentials of a good after- 
dinner speech. 

5. Contest Orations. These orations are so widely dif- 
ferent from the other groups that they constitute a distinct 
and separate class. (1) They partake of all the other 
forms ; they represent the essence of the other four groups. 
(2) They are prepared for an exceedingly formal and typi- 
cal occasion. (3) Though they resemble a real oration, 
the ultimate purpose is to win the vote of the judges. (4) 
But while the occasion is a contest in excellence, it should 
be remembered that the judges must be won as part of the 
audience. 

Follow the general outline suggested in this chapter under 
the topic, The Oration. 



258 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

III. The Reproduction. In this group are placed 
those forms of public address that are delivered by some 
one other than the author; though sometimes a writer 
"speaks" his own selections, or "stars" in his own plays. 
The purpose of this group is to arouse the emotions. Our 
literary masterpieces are used for this purpose. 

The subdivisions are 1. declamation, 2. story-telling, 3. 
reading; dramatic monolog where one person takes the part 
of a number of characters, 4. dramatics, or acting; plays 
where each person represents a single character. 

IV. The Popular Lecture. This is sometimes called 
the Chautauqua lecture. It is frequently didactic in the 
main ; but in order to draw and hold a crowd, the lecturer 
presents his thought in a popular style, interweaving bits 
of humor, interesting anecdotes, some poetry, appealing to 
the emotions, and often makes a direct attempt to reach 
the will. The successful popular lecture may be said to 
have a variety of purposes, and appeals to the intellect, 
the emotions, and the will. 

EXERCISES 

I. Distinguish between the Essay and the Oration. Be- 
tween the Lecture and the After-Dinner Speech. Between 
the various kinds of orations. 

II. Write a descriptive essay of 500 words characteriz- 
ing in the blackest terms a man who deserves all you may 
be able to call him. 

III. Write a descriptive essay of 500 words character- 
izing a man of the opposite type-upraise him in the most 
flattering terms. 

IV. Write a eulogy of a man or woman you have inti- 
mately known. 

V. Have each student be prepared to tell two good 
pointed stories. Have them first name the point they wish 



Forms of Public Address 259 

to illustrate with the stories. Both stories to illustrate 
the same point. 

VI. Have each student give a three-minute talk on "The 
Need of Orations To-day." 

VII. Have each student prepare a contest oration of 
1,000 words of some national character of his own choos- 
ing — observing the suggestions made in this chapter con- 
cerning the Introduction, Problem, Solution, and Conclu- 
sion. 

VIII. Write an oration on one of the following subjects; 

1. International Peace. 

2. Need of Modern Business Ethics. 

3. Law and the Lawyer. 

4. Equal Suffrage. 

5. The Voice of the People. 

6. Tammany. 

7. Africa in America. 

8. Waste in Education. 

9. Political Machines. 
10. Child Labor. 



CHAPTER VII 

METHODS OF PREPARING AND DELIVERING A 

SPEECH 

When a man is called upon to make a speech, — whether 
he fortunately has something to say or unfortunately has 
to say something, — he has a selection of five ways : 
I. It may be written and then read. 
II. It may be written and memorized. 
III. It may be spoken extempore. 

IV. It may be partly written and partly extemporized. 
V. It may be impromptu. 

I. Reading a Speech. Advantages. On occasions when 
the speaker must be exceedingly careful what he says and 
how he says it, this is the safest plan. He cannot then be 
misquoted, whether intentionally or carelessly. The inex- 
perienced speaker had better write out his speech and learn 
to read it well than to attempt any other method and fail. 
This method is the easiest. Usually speeches read from 
manuscript are worth listening to, as they have been very 
carefully prepared. Scientific discoveries are usually thus 
presented to the public. 

Disadvantages. It is difficult to interest an audience when 
reading a paper. In the first place, a reader is hampered 
in adequate physical expression. Again, he cannot adjust 
his speech to the tenor of the audience. To be a success, 
he must be able to judge accurately his audience before he 
speaks. Certain events may occur after the writing of his 
paper and before its reading which necessitate a change in 
manuscript on short notice; or part of it may be wholly 

260 



Methods of Preparing and Delivering a Speech 261 

inappropriate. 

Caution. If reading from manuscript seems necessary or 
advisable, cultivate the ability to read well. Look at your 
audience as much as possible while reading, and for as long 
a time as possible. Hold up your, manuscript almost on a 
level with and within easy distance from your eyes, so that 
you can look at your audience by merely turning your eyes 
slightly upward. In shorty make your reading a personal 
message, and allow the manuscript to interfere as little as 
possible with a personal grapple with your audience. 

II. Speaking Memoriter. Advantages. This method 
gives the most artistic results. It is a safe and popular 
method for beginners. It has all the advantages of the first 
method and only a few of the disadvantages. This method 
was and is used by some of our most able orators. - Demos- 
thenes used it whenever time permitted. Caesar used it at 
the trial of the friends of Catiline; Webster used it in his 
Plymouth and Bunker Hill orations, and in his Eulogy on 
Adams and Jefferson. Everett and Wendell Phillips wrote 
many of their orations and memorized them. 

Disadvantages. It is an enormous tax upon the memory. 
It takes much practice to "speak" a selection creditably. 
Even the best memories are at times treacherous. 

Cautions. Commit the idea and thought as well as the 
words. Deliver your speech as though it were extempora- 
neous — do not let the audience know that it is memorized. 
Do not use this method except when you have plenty of 
time and the production is not too long. Avoid repeating 
it so often that the delivery becomes mechanical and life- 
less. 

III. Speaking Extempore. Advantages. This form of 
speaking requires careful preparation, a memorized outline, 
leaving the exact language for expression "upon the spur 
of the moment." This permits a hand-to-hand grapple with 
the audience. The speaker can take advantage of any cir- 



262 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

cumstances requiring a modification of his prepared mate- 
rial. He must think as he speaks, thus avoiding a mechan- 
ical repetition of words. If his speech has not been well 
adapted to the audience, he can modify it as the occasion 
demands. He can take advantage of opportunities to speak 
when he might not have time to prepare a manuscript. We 
are living in an age when a short, business-like speech is 
most in demand. The extempore method also permits the 
orator to profit by the inspiration of the audience. Most 
of our gems of oratory were produced in this way; flashes 
of brilliant eloquence come, as Webster said, "if they come 
at all, like the outbreak of a fountain from the earth, or 
the bursting forth of volcanic fires, with spontaneous, orig- 
inal, native force." The extempore method cultivates defi- 
nite thinking and accurate speaking. Become a good ex- 
tempore speaker. 

Disadvantages. Extempore speaking is likely to be ill- 
prepared, repetitious. Beginners frequently have their 
minds and vocal powers practically paralyzed when they ap- 
pear before an audience — they can neither think nor speak. 
Many students while thinking of what to say have very little 
time left to garb their thoughts properly; hence their dic- 
tion and style are poor. Not following a carefully con- 
structed outline, they wander "like the chaff before the 
wind.'/ 

Cautions. Prepare about four times as much materialas 
you think you will need. Have a well prepared and thor- 
oughly memorized outline. Never carry a scrap of paper 
before your audience. Do not think that all you need is a 
"gift of gab" ; many a speaker is more wordy than brainy. 
Speak slowly at first; construct your sentences carefully. 
A large, ready vocabulary is absolutely essential. Prac- 
tice, PRACTICE. 

IV. Combined Method. Advantages. There are a num- 
ber of combinations: (1) To read part of the speech and 



Methods of Preparing and Delivering a Speech 263 

to give from memory the most important portions. (£) To 
read part and to extemporize part. (3) To memorize the 
introduction, conclusion and a few choice paragraphs in the 
body of the speech and to extemporize the rest. This last 
combination has been used with remarkable success by many 
of our most brilliant speakers : Cicero, John Bright, Pitt, 
Gladstone, Beecher, and many others. It carries with it 
about all the advantages enumerated under the first three 
methods. 

Disadvantages. It requires great skill to pass from the 
extemporized to the memorized portions without being de- 
tected by the audience. The speaker usually "recites" in 
a quality of style different from that in which he "speaks." 

Cautions. Begin by committing the introductions and 
conclusions ; then memorize large bits of your written speech. 
Memorize choice extracts from noted authors — a few lines 
of descriptive matter, a choice combination of effective ad- 
jectives, etc. You can often use these to advantage. Cul- 
tivate a fluent and graceful transition from the one style 
to the other. 

V. Speaking Impromptu. Advantages. Speaking with- 
out any special preparation is not an easy task. It de- 
mands a broad general preparation. But he who has this 
foundation frequently can make effective speeches when 
others are obliged to keep silent. To be able to analyze 
quickly and to marshal your thoughts together at a mo- 
ment's notice is a power admired and longed for by all pub- 
lic speakers. Few, however, reach the point where they 
care to rely upon their general preparation on important 
occasions. Preachers and other speakers who are fre- 
quently called upon for a sermon or speech on short notice 
should carry a few good outlines for addresses continually 
in mind. 

Disadvantages. The impromptu method has too many 
disadvantages for enumeration. Those who wait for the 



264 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

"inspiration of the moment" find out when too late that the 
moment has come without the inspiration. Special prepara- 
tion should always be made if time permits. You have no 
right to impose on the audience in this way. The people 
in the audience have a right to the best you can give them. 
Cautions. Alwa}^s keep a few good speeches "on tap." 
You often are called upon when you least expect it. Keep 
a few good stories, a few salient ideas, a paragraph from 
some good speech, which with little modification you can 
adapt to meet many emergencies. Many a man has been 
admired for his ability to extemporize or speak impromptu 
when he was speaking a set speech or repeating a partly 
memorized prayer. However, the speaker is not always 
conscious of doing this. Choice bits of your own com- 
position may have been memorized years ago and these will 
naturally and spontaneously come to your mind ; and all you 
need to do is to recall the thought and they will clothe 
themselves in the same choice language as upon a previous 
and more formal occasion. Channing said, "The day of 
inspiration has gone by. Everything which I have ever 
said which was worth remembering, was all carefully pre- 
pared." 



CHAPTER VIII 
EXTEMPORE SPEAKING 

Quintilian said, "the richest fruit of all our study, and the 
most ample recompense for the extent of our labor is the 
faculty of speaking extempore. Not that I make it an ob- 
ject that an orator should prefer to speak extempore; I 
only wish that he should be able to do so." 

Since the ability to speak extemporaneously is consid- 
ered the best all-round method, and since it is demanded es- 
pecially in our day and time, let us give it a little more 
detailed attention. 

Extempore Speaking in Secondary Schools. Can ex- 
tempore speaking advantageously be taught to pupils in 
high schools ? Yes ; but, of course, any plan adopted must 
be suited to the ages of the pupils. The reason that many 
teachers who try to teach this method do not succeed as 
well as they should like, is largely due to their lack of faith 
in this manner of speaking. They give up too soon. Re- 
sults do not appear at once. Like the cultivation of all 
life habits, it takes time. The ability to think logically 
while before an audience, and to select automatically and 
instantaneously the right words to express one's thoughts 
does not come "over night." 

Can Extempore Speaking be Acquired? Can this 
method of speaking be taught at all? Or is it a gift, a 
natural endowment, like brown eyes? Here is some testi- 
mony. Professor Bredif says that "Pericles never wrote 
his orations. Like Aristotle, Themistocles, and other an- 
cient orators, he improvised after laborious meditation." 

265 



266 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Cicero usually used the memoriter method, but when pressed 
for time resorted to the extempore. 

Of the group of famous parliamentary orators in Eng- 
land during the eighteenth century, William Pitt, Lord 
Mansfield, and Charles James Fox all used the extempore 
method. Mr. Pitt, along with his gifts, natural and ac- 
quired, had a marked susceptibility for being aroused by the 
occasion. His overwhelming spontaneity and high personal 
character swept everything before him. It is said that such 
was the excitement when he spoke that it was impossible to 
report him, and the speech which in its delivery and pub- 
lication overthrew Walpole's ministry was reduced to writ- 
ing by Dr. Johnson. 

Mansfield was pre-eminent as an extempore speaker. At 
an early age he gave promise of that ready command of 
his mother tongue which was later shown in his speeches. 
This was secured by a constant translation and retrans- 
lation of Greek and Roman orators, which also gave him 
a knowledge of the principles of eloquence, a study which 
he began to pursue with all diligence upon his entry into 
the university. This he continued after beginning his law 
studies, especially in the practice of extempore speaking, 
for which he prepared himself with such fullness and accu- 
racy that his notes were useful to him in after life, both at 
the bar and on the bench. 

The fame of Fox as a parliamentary orator and debater 
is well known, although he began awkwardly and abounded 
in repetitions. He was an extempore speaker solely. Ora- 
torically, Fox's ambition was to become a powerful debater, 
"one who goes out in all weathers," instead of carrying with 
him to the House a set speech drawn up beforehand. In 
this course he persevered until he became the acknowledged 
leader of the Whig party in the House of Commons. He 
answered well to his own definition of an orator, — "one 
who can give immediate, instantaneous expression to his 
thoughts." He mastered his subject and accumulated facts. 



Extempore Speaking £67 

How he used these facts depended upon the mood of the 
assembly that he rose to address. Burke affirmed him to be 
"the most brilliant and accomplished debater the world ever 
saw." 

Of English parliamentary orators, the two most illus- 
trious examples are: John Bright and William Gladstone. 
Bright began by committing his speeches to memory, but he 
soon abandoned this method as both clumsy and exhausting. 

Turning now to American orators, we find that the most 
famous representative of the early period of our history, 
Patrick Henry, never wrote a line of his speeches. The 
sparks of his eloquence flew hot from the anvil of his 
thought. He owed his success to early practice in con- 
versation and public speaking, and to the courage and read- 
iness with which he met a crisis. 

We are apt to think the great triumvirate — Calhoun, 
Clay, and Webster — as less ready in purely extemporaneous 
speech than the average legislator of to-day, and yet each 
of these three great orators showed a gradual development 
in facility as extempore speakers. Calhoun cultivated ex- 
tempore speaking with great success while in the law school 
at Litchfield, and he pursued this method in the "iron logic" 
of his speeches in Congress. Clay, too, early practiced the 
extempore method in a debating club at Richmond, and 
his yet earlier practice with cornfield or woods as an audi- 
ence is well known. Webster, "a steam engine in breeches," 
often prepared his speeches with great care; but when 
pressed for time, as in many of his great cases at the bar, 
he spoke from carefully prepared notes. 

Sargent S. Prentiss, "the most eloquent of all Southern- 
ers," says Wendell Phillips, was at his best only when speak- 
ing extempore. Wendell Phillips himself was an adept at 
the art; so was Henry Ward Beecher. 

Here is the testimony of four modern speakers : 

Hon. B. R. Tillman, United States Senator from South 
Carolina: "I get chock full of ideas and facts, and then 



268 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

turn loose without much thought or preparation. I very 
often think over what I am going to say, and then, when I 
get on my feet, never think of what I intended to say. Prac- 
tice has enabled me to speak with more ease and without 
getting excited, but I doubt if my speeches are as effective 
as when they are belched forth like lava from a volcano." 

Hon. William J. Bryan: "I first read all I can on the 
subject to be discussed, examining the question from all 
standpoints; then prepare an outline dividing the subject 
into heads and subheads ; then fill in the details. I seldom 
write a speech complete. Where I have the subject thor- 
oughly in hand, it is easier to use the language which comes 
at the moment than to remember set phraseology." 

Dr. Lyman Abbott in a recent number of the OwtlooJc 
states that there were two literary societies at New York 
University. He and his brother belonged to one of them. 
"It was here," says Dr. Abbott, "I first learned to think 
upon my feet, and so laid the foundation for my lifelong 
habit of extemporaneous speech. For the essential condi- 
tion of really extemporaneous speech is ability to think 
upon one's feet. Without that ability the extemporaneous 
address is either a memoriter, though unwritten, oration, 
or a rambling and discursive talk unfreighted with any 
thought. The value of the old-time debating societies in 
village, school, and college appears to me to be underesti- 
mated in our times. 4 In the Westminster debating socie- 
ties,' says Alfred Austin in his autobiography, 'I at least 
acquired a facility, sometimes an extemporaneous facility, 
of utterance that has been useful to me, I think, all through 
life.' " 

But, says the student, these are great orators. That is 
true, but they acquired their power through a long course 
of practice. So may you. Some have an easier task than 
others, but often those who have the most to overcome have 
become the most proficient in the art. If you cannot become 
as brilliant as Webster, as powerful as Mirabeau, as fluent 



Extempore Speaking 269 

as Grady, or as eloquent as Ingersoll, become the best you 



can. 



Outline. The special preparation for a speech, dis- 
cussed in a former chapter, should be followed in preparing 
to deliver a speech extempore. Here is a suggested outline: 
I. Introduction 

1 

2 . 

II. Discussion 

1 

A 

B 

C. 

2 

A 

B 

C 

3 

A 

B. 

C 

III. Conclusion 

1 

2 

In preparing an outline for a speech, use only a few sub- 
divisions. Do not subdivide and re-subdivide ad infinitum 
for an extemporaneous speech. Remember the outline must 
be memorized. Use, therefore, only words, phrases, or short 
sentences. Such an outline is not a brief, such as you pre- 
pare for a debate, which requires each subdivision to be 
a complete sentence. 

Introduction. An appropriate introduction is essen- 
tial. The purpose of an introduction is two-fold: I. To 
gain the good will of the audience, and II. to arouse an 



270 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

interest in your subject. This may be accomplished by 
any of the following ways : 

I. Personal. Begin by telling the audience something 
about yourself — an expression of appreciation of the honor 
that has been conferred on you by being permitted to speak, 
etc. But never, never offer an apology for not having pre- 
pared a good speech. 

II. Anecdote. Tell some appropriate story, but never 
tell a story for amusement only. 

III. Illustration. Describe some scene, or narrate some 
incident which makes a direct and adequate setting for your 
speech. 

IV. Quotation. Quote a few lines from some great 
writer, or a stanza of some poem which is connected directly 
with your theme. 

V. General. Speak of your subject in very general 
terms ; as you often do in writing an expository essay. 

VI. Explanatory. Tell how you intend treating your 
subject; what the divisions are, etc. 

VII. Purpose. Explain why you intend speaking. This 
is a very usual beginning. 

Discussion. The main speech should be arranged logi- 
cally and climactically, and should contain one central idea. 
It must have unity, order, and movement. Make your point. 
Beecher once said, "I always aim at* somebody in my audi- 
ence ; I may not always hit him, but I try to hit something." 
Continually ask yourself: What is the purpose of this 
speech? What do I expect to accomplish by it? What rea- 
son is there for my speaking at all? Have I a definite mes- 
sage? Am I saying something or am I talking beside the 
subject? Is the audience interested in what I say? What 
can I say that will make a definite impress on my hearers, 
and what will they remember of my speech to-morrow? 
Would the great majority of my hearers agree, when I have 
finished as to the one central point I wished to make? 



Extempore Speaking £71 

Conclusion. The aim of the conclusion is completeness 
and strength. Every speech should appear complete, 
rounded out, not just sawed off. On the other hand, do not 
just talk until some one tells you to stop. 

The conclusion may be: 

I. Personal, II. Summary, III. Quotation, or IV. Horta- 
tory. 

Memorize Your Outline. Think through the speech 
silently. Fix in your mind just what you desire to say 
upon that particular subdivision. Do not refer to your 
notes while on the platform, except for statistics ; and even 
then it is never wise to repeat a long array of figures while 
speaking. If you use figures, give them in round numbers. 
Say there are over twelve thousand; do not say there are 
eleven thousand, eight hundred and twenty-seven. When 
you get through about all the audience remembers will be 
"Twenty-seven." Colonel Higginson says : 

"Never carry a scrap of paper before an audience. If 
you read your address altogether, that is very different. 
It is the combination that injures. So long as a man is 
absolutely without notes, he is not merely thrown on his own 
resources, but his hearers see and know that he is ; their 
sympathy goes along with him; they wish him to go trium- 
phantly through. But if they once see that he is relying 
partly on the stilts and leading strings of his memoranda, 
their sympathy languishes. It is like the difference between 
a man who walks a tight rope boldly, trusting wholly to his 
balance pole, and the man who is looking about every mo- 
ment for something by which to steady himself. What is 
the aim of your notes? You fear that without them you 
may lose your thread, or your logical connection, or some 
valuable fact or illustration. But you may be sure that 
neither thread nor logic, fact nor argument is so important 
to the audience as that they should be kept in entire sym- 
pathy with yourself, that the magnetic contact, or what- 
ever we call it, should be unbroken. The chances are that 



£7£ Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

nobody will miss what you leave out, if you forget anything ; 
but you will lose much if you forego the continuous and 
confiding attention given to a speaker who is absolutely 
free." 

EXERCISES 

It is a very wise plan to permit pupils, as far as is prac- 
tical, to correlate their work in Oral English with the other 
branches they study, or to connect the voice technique in 
Part I of this volume with exercises in extempore speaking. 
Suppose you are reading a selection from Browning, assign 
to students certain topics for oral reports as : 

I. A brief sketch of the author's life. 

II. A character study. 

III. Anecdotes of the author (short talks by two or 
three students). 

IV. Memoriter recitation of selections from the author's 
works (by different members of the class). 

V. If the reading lesson is a selection from a longer 
story or poem, let one pupil give an abstract of the whole, 
with illustrative quotations. 

VI. Short quotations from the author, by various mem- 
bers of the class. 

The topics are merely suggestive. Definite assignments 
and other topics can be worked out readily by the teacher. 

Topics for Extempore Speeches. It is well to limit 
these to three minutes or five minutes. Never permit a pupil 
to "ramble" in his speeches. Encourage him to crowd the 
best he has into a few minutes. Also, in this way more will 
be able to speak in a day. It is well at times to have general 
criticism from the class after each speech. 

The pupils should be prepared to answer the following 
questions about each speech: I. Was it effective? II. Did 
he hold your attention throughout? III. What was his pur- 
pose? IV. What was his central idea? V. Was it appro- 
priate for the audience he imagined? or was it appropriate 



Extempore Speaking 273 

to the class as an audience? VI. If argumentative, what 
main objection did he overcome? VII. What item in his 
speech was the best, cleverest, most appropriate, most in- 
teresting, etc.? VIII. What part was not well prepared? 
What would he have better said? IX. How about the com- 
position of the speech? X. What were the good qualities, 
and what were the defects in his delivery? 

I. SUGGESTED TOPICS 

1. Give a short talk to the students of the class urging 
them to continue their work, A. in college, B. in a business 
school. 

2. To a group of high school girls, urging them to go to 
a Ladies' Seminary. 

3. To a group of farmers, urging them to send their 
sons A. to college ; B. to an agricultural school, C. to a 
business school. 

4. To a mothers' club, urging the members to send their 
daughters to A. the state university; B. to a denominational 
school; C. to a "finishing" school. 

5. To a group of business men urging them to send 
their sons A. to college, B. to a business school. 

6. To a group of town boys urging them to join the 
Y.M.C.A. 

7. To a group of town girls urging them to join the 
Y.W.C.A. 

8. To a meeting of the W.C.T.U. on the subject of sa- 
loons. 

9. To a meeting of bar-tenders on the subject of saloons. 

10. To a group of prisoners in the county jail. 

11. To the students urging them to join a literary so- 
ciety. 

Remember that the arguments which might convince a 
boy to go to college might be the very reason the father 
might wish to keep him from college. Adapt your speech 
to the audience. 



274 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

II. 'other suggested topics 

1. Wrong is Finally Punished. 

2. Obey the Still Small Voice. 

3. Health is Preferable to Wealth. 

4. Know Thyself. 

5. Knowledge is Power. 

6. An Empty *Sack Cannot Stand Upright, 

7. Cultivate Roses but not on your Noses. 

8. Opportunity. 

9. Animals' Reason. 

10. The Best Magazine. 

11. Athletics. 

12. Success; What is It? 

13. Still Waters Run Deepest. 

14. Why I am a Democrat. 

15. The American Flag. 

16. . The Business Man. 

17. The Militia. 

18. Ghosts. 

19. The "Four Hundred." 

20. The Number Thirteen. 

21. Mothers' Day. 

22. "I Should Worry." 

23. How to Read Books. 

24. The City Slums. 

25. Public Opinion. 

26. Honesty is the Best Policy. 

27. Culture vs. Riches. 

28. Be on Time. 

29. Heroism Means Immortality. 

30. Success Means Hard Work. 

31. Optimism Wins. 

32. The Polite Clerk. 

33. The Young Man in Love. 

34. America's Greatest Orator. 

35. America's Greatest Statesman. 

36. America's Greatest Soldier. 

37. America's Greatest Artist. 



Extempore Speaking 275 

38. America's Greatest Woman. 

39. The True Philanthropist. 

40. The Fool-Killer Still Has a Job. 

41. The Best Book I ever Read. 

42. My Favorite Poem. 

43. Why Some People Have no Friends. 

44. The First Girl I Loved. 

45. Handsome is as Handsome Does. 

46. Who's Who and Why. 

47. How I Spent my Vacation. 

48. A Picture on Memory's Wall. 

49. The Man Who Can Say No. 

50. "I Thank You." 

A good plan is to permit the student to speak for five 
minutes, and then for the next three minutes, while still on 
the floor, to answer questions presented by the class. This 
plan demands adequate preparation and is a good drill in 
thinking quickly and accurately while on one's feet. 



CHAPTER IX 
DEBATING 

Introduction. No form of public speaking can equal 
debating in importance. He who has the ability to arrange 
logically and adequately and to present clearly and force- 
fully truths that convince and persuade, is indeed a master 
among men. 

The treatment of this subject in a single chapter will 
necessarily be confined to a statement of essential elements, 
with some brief suggestions as to methods. Some standard 
text on argumentation and debate should be used with a 
class, whenever time permits. 

Definitions. Argumentation is the kind of speech or 
writing which aims to establish the truth or the falsity of 
a proposition. 

A Debate is a formal arrangement agreed upon by two 
or more persons to discuss under set rules opposite sides 
of a proposition. These formal principles and rules will be 
tersely outlined in this chapter. 

Facts are entities and relationships as they actually ex- 
ist in the universe. 

Opinions are merely man's conception of these facts. 
When our opinions agree with the facts they are called 
truths. 

A proposition is the expression of relationship between 
two or more facts. It is a statement that something is or 
is not. You cannot debate a single fact. You must debate 
a proposition. 

An assertion is an affirmation or denial without ex- 

276 



Debating 277 

pressed or logical grounds. 

Assumptions are truths accepted without proof. 

Presumptions are statements considered true until proved 
otherwise. 

Proof is sufficient reason for asserting a proposition as 
true. It includes evidence and argument. 

I. Evidence. Evidence is any matter from which an 
inference may be drawn. It is the basis of proof. There 
are three sources of evidence: 1. Experience, 2. Testimonial, 
and 3. Circumstantial. 

1. Much of the evidence we use in arguing comes from 
our personal knowledge of facts. These facts we have learned 
A. through Observation, and B. through Experiment. 

2. The second great source of material comes to us from 
what others have found out, or from witnesses, as they are 
often called. Such testimonial evidence varies in value, 
as is pointed out below. 

Expert Testimony is the opinion of a person of recognized 
standing in his profession upon matters relative to his spe- 
cial line of work which makes him competent to form an 
accurate judgment. A person whose expert testimony is 
generally accepted is said to be an authority. 

Evidence from authority should stand the following tests : 

A. Is the witness physically and mentally qualified? 

B. Is he unprejudiced? 

C. Has he had sufficient opportunity to know the facts? 

D. Is he generally considered an authority in this par- 
ticular field? 

Testimony that is especially valuable: 

A. That used by ^n opposing witness. 

B. Concurrent testimony — or testimony substantiated 
by other authorities. 

C. Unwilling testimony — or that which is given against 
one's own interest. 

D. Negative testimony — or the omission of facts which 



£78 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

would have been mentioned had they existed. 

E. Undesigned testimony — an unintentional admission of 
circumstances which were meant to have been kept secret. 

F. Consistent testimony — consistent (1) with itself, (£) 
with other facts, (3) with ordinary experience. 

3. The third source of evidence is circumstantial. This 
is secured through a process of reasoning. The value of evi- 
dence secured in this way depends upon (1) the basic facts 
from which we draw inferences, and (£) the correctness of 
the reasoning process. 

II. Argument. Argument is the process of gaining the 
unknown from the known evidence. In debating, the meth- 
ods used in convincing the minds of the audience of the va- 
lidity of your conclusions are, 1. Constructive proof, and 2. 
Refutation. 

1. Constructive Proof. Constructive arguments may be 
either A. Direct, or argument from authority, or B. Indi- 
rect, or through a process of reasoning. There are two 
kinds of reasoning, a. Inductive, and b. Deductive. 

a. When we reason Inductively we gather all the facts 
possible and then arrive at general truths or laws govern- 
ing these particular facts. There are two general kinds 
of inductive reasoning, (I) Causal relationship, and (II) 
Resemblance, or Example. 

(I) Causal Relationship. This is a very common method 
of reasoning. The two main divisions are: (1) From cause 
to effect, technically called Antecedent Probability; and 
(2) from effect to cause, often called Argument from Sign. 
The best way to make this clear is to give examples. We 
reason from cause to effect when we say that one result 
of the moving picture shows is that they lead boys to be- 
come bandits. We reason from effect to cause when we 
say that the cause of the great number of unemployed in 



Debating 279 

the United States was our practically unrestricted Euro- 
pean immigration. 

(1) The tests to be applied to argument from cause to 
effect are: 

(A) Is the assumed cause adequate to produce the 
effect? 

(B) Are there other causes which might prevent the 
assumed cause from producing the effect in question? 

(2) The tests for effect to cause are: 

(A) Is the cause adequate to produce the effect? 

(B) Could any other cause have produced the effect? 

(C) Was there no force to prevent the operation of 
the assumed cause? 

(D) Is the assumed cause not merely another effect of a 
common cause? 

(II) Resemblance, or Example. There are two divisions 
of this mode of reasoning: (1) Generalization, and (2) 
Analogy. 

(1) Generalization is a very common mode of reason- 
ing. We observe a great many facts and, finding certain 
things true about some of them, we conclude they are also 
true of the others. For example: We observe that some 
high school boys are industrious, and conclude that all high 
school boys are industrious. 

The tests for generalization are : 

(A) Have enough examples been observed to warrant 
the generalization ? 

(B) Were these examples observed, typical? 

(C) Are we reasonably sure that there are no excep- 
tions ? 

(£) Analogy. When two individual objects resemble 
each other in a certain number of points, Ave infer that they 
resemble each other in other points. Example: A student 
is known to loaf and fails to make a pass in his examina- 
tion. We infer that if the second student loafs he, too, will 
fail to pass. 



280 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

The tests for analogy are: 

(A) Are the details of comparison vital to the question 
at issue? 

(B) Do the points of resemblance outweigh the points 
of difference? 

(C) Is the fact known to be true of the analogous case 
more likely to be true of the case in question? 

(D) Are the assertions on which the resemblance is 
based true? 

b. We reason Deductively when we take a general truth 
and apply it to particular cases. The usual form of de- 
duction is the syllogism. This example was first used by 
Aristotle : 

All men are mortal. (Major Premise.) 
Socrates is a man. (Minor Premise.) 
Therefore, Socrates is mortal. (Conclusion.) 
Usually one of the premises is omitted; we then have 
what is called an enthymeme. As, Socrates is mortal be- 
cause he is a man. 

Another form sometimes used in debate is the constructive 
dilemma. Example : If a man acts in accordance with his 
own judgment, he will be criticized; and if he is guided by 
the opinions of others he will be criticized. But he must 
either act in accordance with his own judgment, or be 
guided by the opinions of others. Therefore, in any case 
he will be criticized. The logical dilemma is not so sim- 
ple in construction as many debaters think. To construct 
a good dilemma is very difficult. As the word is used in 
every day life, we are said to be in a dilemma when there are 
but two courses of action open to us, and when both of 
these lead to unpleasant results. 

%. Refutation. By refutation, or rebuttal, is meant 
weakening or destroying the contention of the opposition. 
We speak of anticipatorial rebuttal when the debater antic- 
ipates what the opponent may advance and answers it be- 



Debating 281 

fore it is made; a very effective rebuttal. We speak of 
direct rebuttal when the debater answers his opponent after 
the opponent has stated his argument. There are two meth- 
ods of refutation: A. General, and B. Special. 

A. General. The two means usually employed are: a. 
Attacking the evidence, and b. Detecting the fallacies. 

a. Little need be said on the refutation of the evidence. 
If the evidence is not true, all there is to do is to show 
that the authority is untrustworthy since it fails to meet 
the tests suggested under evidence, or that the evidence 
is contrary to fact. 

b. Fallacies. Any unsound mode of arguing is a fal- 
lacy. It will be impossible even to enumerate all possible 
fallacies ; but a few of the principal ones are : 

(I) Ambiguity of Language. This fallacy arises from 
(1) using ambiguous terms, and (2) ambiguous construc- 
tions. An example of the first is met frequently when 
(A) two words are given the same meaning; as, socialists 
and sociologists; (B) two meanings are given to the same 
word; as, mob (A destructive group of people and A 
large group of people) ; and (C) when meanings are im- 
plied which do not belong to the word; as, A man said he 
did not need to be a good speaker in going to Congress 
for he was told they elected a speaker of the House. 

Secondly, in ambiguous construction we have an example 
in the telegram a large ranch owner wired to his friend, 
"If in need of mules don't forget me." 

(II) Errors in Inductive Reasoning. These may be di- 
vided into : 

(1) Non Causa Pro Causa. (Not the reason for the 
cause.) Two events may be closely associated but the one 
may not be the cause of the other. As hard times and the 
election of a certain man for president of the United States. 

(£) Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc. (After this, therefore 
because of it. ) Example : A man is sick, takes quinine, gets 



282 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

well. The quinine made him well. 

(3) The Effect May, in Part, Be Due to Other Causes. 
Example: High cost of living is due to the trusts. 

(4) Hasty Generalization. This fallacy comes from the 
violation of the tests for generalization. Example: Radium 
cured a number of patients who had cancer. Therefore, 
Radium is a specific for cancer. Also, a certain man said 
he was always happy when April came, for he had noticed 
for forty years that, whenever April came, he lived the rest 
of the year. 

(5) False Analogy. Due to a violation of the tests for 
analogy. Example: Compulsory arbitration would be suc- 
cessful in the United States because it is successful in New 
Zealand. 

(Ill) Errors m Deductive Reasoning. 

(1) Begging the Question. {Petitio prkicipii.) The 
most common method is to argue in a circle: assuming the 
truth of a premise, and from this premise deducing a conclu- 
sion, and then using this conclusion to establish the premise 
assumed in the beginning. Example: The reason the man 
did not die was due to his longevity. Also, the soul is im- 
mortal because the rational element in mankind can never 
die. 

(2) Ignoring the Question. (Ignoratio elenchi.) There 
are a great many methods of ignoring the main issue. The 
debater must ever be on his guard to detect this fallacy in 
his opponent and as far as possible to avoid it himself. 

Some of the most common ways of ignoring the question 
are: 

(A) Shifting Ground. Frequently an opponent no 
sooner is cornered on one proposition than he hedges to 
another issue ; he will not meet the issue squarely. To illus- 
trate: A lawyer who dwells upon the crime rather than 
upon the guilt of the prisoner is "shifting ground." 

(B) Part Proof. Proving only one phase of the ques- 
tion, and maintaining that the entire question has been 



Debating 283 

proved. Example: Concluding that Mexico should be an- 
nexed to the United States because such action would bene- 
fit the Mexicans. 

(C) Argumentum ad Populum. Appealing to the pas- 
sion and prejudice rather than to reason. Example: An- 
tony's speech at Caesar's funeral. 

(D) Ad Ignorantiam. Assuming that a certain prop- 
osition is correct because the contradictory has not been 
proved. Example: The soul is immortal because it has 
never been proved to be mortal. 

(E) Ad Hominem. Arguing against the character of 
the opponent rather than the principles he advocates. Ex- 
ample: Socialism is opposed to the church, because Carl 
Marx, one of the early advocates of socialism, was a mate- 
rialist. 

(¥) Avoiding the Issue. To begin proving one thing 
and finish by having proved something altogether different. 

(G) Making Objections. Finding some fault with the 
issue. Every plan has some defects ; hence merely pointing 
out a few objections does not prove that it should not be 
adopted. 

(3) Fallacy of Composition and Division. Arguing 
that what is true of a part is true of the whole, and vice 
versa. Example: Hydrogen and oxygen are both gases, 
therefore water which is composed of these two elements 
must be a gas. The church is a good institution; Mr. 
Blank is a member of the church, therefore a good man. 

(4) Non Sequiter. (Does not follow.) This fallacy 
is due to a violation of one or more of the rules of the syl- 
logism. 

B. Special Form of Refutation. 

a. Reductio ad Absurdum. One of the most effective 
means of refutation is that of reducing an argument to an 
absurdity. The debater assumes for a moment that a given 
proposition is true, and then points out the absurd results 



284 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

to which it leads. By reason of its simplicity and direct- 
ness, together with the humor that frequently accompanies 
it, this method is usually very effective. 

b. The Destructive Dilemma. As it is ordinarily used, 
the dilemma is really a special form of Reductio ad Ab- 
surdum. It arises from the attempt to show that the oppo- 
nent's proposition must lead to two and only two alterna- 
tives, and that both lead to absurd results. The opponent 
is thus placed as it is commonly said, "between the horns 
of a dilemma." 

A dilemmatic argument may be attacked in three ways 
(1) "escape between the horns," i.e., present a third alter- 
native; (2) "taken by the horns," i.e., denying the premises; 
and (3) offering a "rebuttal dilemma." 

c. Method of Residues. This may be used as a con- 
structive argument. All possible solutions to a problem are 
enumerated. At least one must be the proper solution. All 
but one are proved absurd or wrong. Therefore the remain- 
ing one is the proper solution. Burke used this method in his 
speech on Conciliation with the American Colonies. 

d. Exposing Inconsistencies in your opponent's argu- 
ment. This is not an uncommon fallacy in debating, and 
should be watched. 

STRUCTURE 

Proposition. Secure a good question for debate, observ- 
ing the following points. A good debating question requires 
these essentials: 

I. It must have an affirmative statement. 

II. It must be stated briefly and in clear, unambiguous 
language. 

III. It should be debatable. 

IV. It must not be too broad. 

V. It must have only one central idea. 

VI. It should be profitable to study. 

VII. It should be interesting to the audience. 



Debating £85 

Analysis. Study both sides of the proposition. Briefs 
are absolutely necessary. Never attempt to debate without 
making a comprehensive brief ; merely an outline will not do. 
A brief should contain, first, three or four leading propo- 
sitions, logically arranged, that cover the field of the argu- 
ment, and each proposition reading as a reason for the ques- 
tion under discussion ; then, each of these leading proposi- 
tions should be followed by subheads giving reasons and 
evidence to support the major heading. 

The first speaker on the affirmative will present in his 
introduction the following points, which include the steps 
in analysis: 

I. Briefly, the origin and history of the question. 

II. Definition of terms. 

III. Exclusion of irrelevant matter. 

IV. Statement of mutually admitted matter. 

V. The special issues. 

Special Issues. It is not desirable that a definite scheme 
be followed in determining the special issues in a proposition 
for debate ; but the following plan will aid as a check for be- 
ginners. 

The affirmative may prove: 

I. Cause for action, or evils in the present system, or 
necessity for a change. 

II. Method of action, or remedy for evils, or feasibility 
of plan. 

III. Practicability of method, and best plan. 

The Negative may prove: 

I. No adequate cause for action, or, that evils do not 
exist, or no need for proposed changes. 

II. Method not adequate, or evils incurable, or plan 
not adequate. 

III. Method impracticable, or better plan. 



286 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Main Discussion. Confine your discussion to a few major 
issues. Avoid unimportant matter. Never read into a ques- 
tion a far-fetched, unusual, or technical meaning. Meet the 
proposition squarely. Convince the judges that you are 
willing to play fair and have no intention of quibbling over 
doubtful terms. 

The chief speaker of the negative may accept or reject 
the affirmative's interpretation. If he differs he should men- 
tion this in the beginning of his speech. 

Every speech should have a beginning, a middle, and a 
conclusion; these should be joined together "skillfully. 
Make each major issue stand out clearly. Make your 
speech show up logically, and climactically. 

The affirmative has the initial burden of proof. The 
burden of proof may be shifted to the negative as the de- 
bate progresses. "He who affirms must prove." When the 
negative speakers advance a better plan, the burden of proof 
lies upon them to prove this plan superior. It is not in- 
cumbent on the affirmative to prove that the plan advanced 
by them is superior to every other plan, or even superior 
to any plan mentioned by the negative ; but superior to the 
plan the negative uphold — this may be the present plan or 
a new plan. 

Unsupported assertions by either side are worthless. The 
use of "We think — ," "I believe, — " "Authorities agree," 
etc., indicates poor debating. Guard your grammar and 
diction. Have a clear, vigorous, unified, direct, unpreten- 
tious style. 

Conclusion. Summarize the points made by the opposi- 
tion and also your own points. A good method is to make 
parallel comparisons. Emphasize your main points; hold 
them up clearly at the close. If your side has scored a 
good point during the debate, do not let the judges forget 
it. 

Rebuttal. It is a general rule in debating that no new 
argument can be introduced in the rebuttal speech. Addi- 



Debating 287 

tional proof, however, may be offered in answer to any at- 
tack upon any argument that was presented in the speaker's 
main speech. 

The principal rule for good rebuttal is : Answer only the 
strong arguments against you. In debating any question 
there are various and sundry arguments more or less re- 
lated to the question, but which are not vital enough to 
demand any particular attention, if, indeed, any attention 
at all. A debater should try to avoid a scattering effect 
in rebuttal work — hitting at various points without really 
delivering a solid shot at some vital point. The best form 
of rebuttal is the strengthening of your argument wher- 
ever it has been attacked ; recalling the minds of the hearers 
to the main issues ; showing that you have proved your 
case; showing that your proof is better than that of your 
opponent ; that the lines of argument that you have offered 
are vital to the discussion, and that they have been estab- 
lished. 

Refutation should be scattered throughout the debate. 
Whenever a debater is preparing his constructive case, he 
should anticipate the argument that may be advanced in re- 
ply, and provide against it. Anticipatory rebuttal is very 
effective. It is a good plan to allow a few minutes at the 
beginning of each man's speech for refutation of his oppo- 
nent's arguments. Destroy first the argument of the oppo- 
sition and the audience will be more easily convinced of the 
merits of your contention. 

No one who intends to win a debate will think of entering 
the contest without a score of rebuttal cards. Each card 
should have a brief reply to one point that may be advanced 
by the opposition. Each card should be topically labelled 
and bear detailed reference. 

Delivery. Manner. The main speeches are usually 
memorized; especially when the contest is keen. Do not 
memorize the rebuttal speeches ; but use the information 



288 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

you have on your rebuttal cards. Keep these cards in your 
hands. 

The style of delivery should be that of a simple, fervent, 
and aggressive conversation. Do not "elocute," "orate," or 
talk as though you were "speaking a piece." There should 
be no marked difference between the style of your main and 
your rebuttal speeches. 

Prepare speeches of sufficient length so that you are not 
compelled to stop before the one-minute warning bell is 
sounded. Stop promptly at the sound of the second bell 
— completing your sentence if you are in the midst of a 
short one. No one listens to you after the second bell, 
everybody is wondering if you do not know the purpose of 
the bell. To show surprise or disgust when the stopping 
signal is given is extremely bad form. It proves that you 
have not made careful preparation. 

Speak to the audience, not to the judges. Stand erect, 
move only to show transitions. Do not pace the platform. 
Use only a few direct, emphatic, spontaneous gestures. 
Speakers should be free from all personal show in dress 
and manner. Show your argument, not yourself. 

Judges. If possible secure as many as five competent 
judges. Few things are so discouraging to a debater as to 
speak before incompetent, prejudiced judges. Secure men 
who know a debate when they hear one. The mere fa.ct that 
a man holds a professorship in a college or is a school 
superintendent does not qualify him to judge a debate. A 
man may be very intelligent in many respects and not know 
anything about music. Likewise he may know very little 
about debating. 

The following plan of judging a debate overcomes some 
of the objections of the usual method of voting simply 
for the affirmative or the negative side: (1) Select three 
men who are especially qualified for their respective parts. 
(£) One judge will decide which side wins in delivery. A 



Debating 289 

second judge will decide which side wins in Argumentation. 
A third judge will decide which side wins in General Effec- 
tiveness. (3) The relative points awarded to each side by 
the respective judges are: For Delivery, 2 points; for 
Argumentation, 3 points ; for General Effectiveness, 4 
points. The side having the highest total number of points 
wins the debate. The decision when read would stand: 
— 9, or 2 — 7, or 3 — 6, or 4 — 5, as the case might be. 

The advantage of this plan over the old and inadequate 
method will readily be seen. 

We trust the time will soon come when it will not be con- 
sidered essential to have judges in a debate. 

ETHICS OF DEBATING 

There are two cardinal principles of debating which 
should always be kept in mind and put into practice. These 
are: (1) Be honest, and (2) Be respectful to your oppo- 
nent and to his arguments. 

The necessity for honesty arises in two ways : in the pres- 
entation of your own argument, and in the handling of that 
of your opponent. The form of statement of your argu- 
ment should be absolutely your own ; that is, it should be in 
your own language, and not copied from some one else. 
Ideas may be borrowed; as a matter of fact, all of us bor- 
row arguments by the wholesale ; but the point is, the way 
of stating these arguments should be your own work. Of 
course, if the language of another is stated as quoted mat- 
ter, that is admissible. Again, whenever you have occasion 
to restate an argument of your opponent, state it fairly. 
In this respect the amateur in debate needs especially to 
watch himself. In the first place, it is foolish to say that 
your opponent said so and so, when your hearers know 
better. Any appearance of unfairness in the handling of 
your opponent's argument only prejudices the hearers 
against your own argument. 

(2) Good debating means a search for and presentation 



290 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

of the truth on each side of a given question. In a really 
debatable question all of the truth is never on one side. 
The very idea that a thing is debatable assumes that there 
is another side. Hence, your opponents and their argu- 
ments should always be treated with respect. Young de- 
baters frequently make the mistake of opposing everything 
that is said on the other side, and attempt to annihilate am 
opponent instead of showing him his errors. It is said of 
Lincoln that he often surprised young attorneys by the 
fair and strong statement of his opponent's case. When- 
ever a debater uses such expressions as "He gets up here and 
foolishly asserts so and so," "He harps about this point," 
etc., it shows that he has a wrong idea of what debating 
really is, and the wrong attitude toward those on the other 
side. Other exhibitions along the same lines are shown 
when a speaker dramatically challenges his opponents by 
turning from the audience and addresses them alone, ac- 
companied, perhaps, by a quasi-withering look or gesture ; 
or flaunts an authority in their faces ; or otherwise con- 
ducts himself in an hysterical manner when there is no spe- 
cial cause for excitement, and when his argument would be 
far more effective if presented in a more respectful and 
dignified manner. 

Finally, the debaters should remember that the judges are 
more competent to pass upon the total effect of the argu- 
ment on each side than are the debaters themselves. The 
right principle to proceed on is to do the best you can in 
presenting your argument, and leave the decision absolutely 
to the judges. Here again reference is had more partic- 
ularly to the debates of the Interscholastic League. Wrang- 
ling over decisions is unsportsmanlike, and accomplishes 
nothing. The debater should take to heart the advice fre- 
quently given in other contests, "Be a good sport." And 
in debating, as in other things in life, it is fine training for 
one to learn how to lose as well as how to win. 



Debating 291 

EXERCISES 

I. Make a brief outline of this chapter. 

II. Name the arguments and fallacies in the following: 

1. The cat upset the pitcher. I saw her tracks on the 
table. 

2. There was a heavy rain last night, the roads will be 
too muddy for the automobile. 

3. Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit the earth. 

4. That boy is a rogue because his father is a rogue. 

5. All dogs have brown eyes. I examined the eyes of 
twenty dogs, and each one had brown eyes. 

6. Immigrants should be debarred from the United 
States because we would then be free from all labor troubles. 

7. There must be a God, because I love Him. 

8. That bad boy whispers because he is mean. 

9. I don't believe what that man preaches because he 
is not honest. 

10. Men are not happy. Those who are single have no 
wives to take care of them. Those who are married have 
wives to take care of. Since all men are either single or 
are married, men are not happy. 

11. No cat has two tails. Every cat has one tail more 
than no cat. Hence every cat has three tails. 

12. Hans is a great beer drinker, for the Germans are 
great beer drinkers. 

13. Knowledge is power, for Bacon said so. 

14. Are you the only rogue in your family? 

III. Arguing from Resemblance, prove the truth or 
falsity of the following propositions : 

1. Honesty is the best policy. 

2. Irrigation greatly increases the value of the land. 

3. Unclean milk is a menace to public health. 

4. Animals reason. 

IV. Cite a case of circumstantial evidence which caused 
you to change one of your plans during the past month. 



292 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

V. Name five people who would be considered author- 
ity on farming. 

VI. Give an example of unwilling testimony that you 
have heard ; of undesigned testimony ; of negative testi- 
mony. 

VII. Discover in your newspaper or magazine an exam- 
ple of each form of argument mentioned in this chapter. 

VIII. Discover in your newspaper or magazine an ex- 
ample of each fprm of fallacy outlined in this chapter. 

IX. Test the following propositions for debate: 

1. There should be no electives in the first two years of 
high school. 

2. In criminal trials, three-fourths of the jury should 
be competent to render a verdict. 

3. All saloons should be under the control of the Gov- 
ernment. 

4. All Christian churches in the City of 

should be united. 

5. All high school interscholastic athletic games should 
be abolished. 

6. Oral English should be one of the required studies in 
the high school. 

7. The French Revolution was justifiable. 

8. A lawyer should not defend a man whom he knows to 
be guilty. 

9. The truth should always be spoken. 

10. Church property should be taxed. 

11. Pupils should be furnished free text books by the 
State. 

12. The study of Latin and Greek is a waste of time. 

13. The most successful business men are not strictly 
honest. 

X. Bring to the class ten questions for debate that will 
stand the tests. 



PART THREE 
SELECTIONS 



FOREWORD 

In the preparation of Part III of this volume the author 
was guided by the following principles : 

I. Every selection must have true literary merit. Some 
selections are old. They have stood the test of time and 
have come out pure gold. This alone makes them immor- 
tal. Those who make the plea that a selection is "hack- 
neyed*' because it has become a universal favorite cannot 
be taken seriously. Still, the modernity of a selection does 
not prevent its possessing literary value. 

II. Every selection must read or speak well. Many ex- 
cellent selections were not included because they do not lend 
themselves readily to oral interpretation. 

III. Every selection is typical. Aside from its intrinsic 
value as a literary gem, it illustrates some principle in 
Parts One and Two of the text. 

IV. Every selection was chosen with a view of its adapt- 
ability to the age, ability, and experience of the students who 
will use the text. The selections have all been tested by 
actual practice in the school room. 

The selections are not all of the same degree of difficulty 
of interpretation : neither have the pupils of the same grade 
like ability. Again, a student should at times be encouraged 
to dive where he may be free of the fear of striking bottom. 

The classification of a group of selections of this char- 
acter is of no great importance. However, two principles 
have determined the order of arrangement: (1) The main 
purpose of each selection, and (2) the degree of the diffi- 
culty of its delivery. 

With the best of arrangement before him. any teacher is 
doomed to failure who blindly follows a text, and does not 

295 



296 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

take the liberty of adapting the material offered to the 
needs of the particular class and to the capacity of the 
individual. Again, the following selections have been found 
sufficient in number and variety to meet the demands of the 
average class and the limited time usually allotted to the 
study of Oral English. But a prudent teacher need not con- 
fine himself to the selections here presented if more appro- 
priate material is at his command. And it is not an unwise 
policy to encourage the pupils to be on the lookout for good 
selections as they appear from time to time in the papers 
and magazines. Permit them to bring their discoveries to 
the class and to read them orally. 

Brief statements are made introducing most of the selec- 
tions, — facts that might not be accessible to the average 
student, but essential to an intelligent oral interpretation. 
The general remarks made relative to the delivery are 
merely suggestive, but it is hoped that they may be found 
helpful. A more detailed analysis obviously would defeat 
the purpose of the author, — that of creating in the pupil 
the power of literary interpretation, individual discrimina- 
tion, and self-expression. 



THE POEM 

By Stokely S. Fisher 

The poem is a picture of the heart ; 

The fixed memorial of some fleeting mood 
Or sentiment; a sketch, true-drawn if crude, 
Of common life in home or street or mart, 
Of human nature wrought with perfect art 
To perfect beauty, all with power endued, 
Holding suggestion whereby is renewed 
Experience of the past, to make it part 
Of every man's inheritance. From years 
That die true poetry bears on their gifts 

To younger time ; it paints, that all may see, 
The spiritual vision of the seers: 
Before all eyes in every age it lifts 
Its growing portrait of humanity ! 



THE BUGLE SONG 

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Poet. B. 1809, England; d. 1892, 
England. 

This poem, from The Princess (published 1847), was inspired 
by the scenery and echoes of Lake Killarney (Ireland), which 
Tennyson visited in 1842. The light from a setting sun, the 
legendary tales associated with old ruins of Ross Castle, the 
boatman's bugle notes echoing from Eagle's Nest and the neigh- 
boring peaks, and the faint, elusive, elfish reverberations as they 
die away "on hill or field or river," — all make a charming at- 
mosphere for the poet to be reminded of the echo of the human 
soul which does not die away, but grows "for ever and forever." 

This is one of the most beautiful lyrics in the English lan- 
guage. Tennyson, himself, enjoyed reading this poem aloud. 
The poet commands the bugle to blow — then there is a pause; 
next he commands the echoes to answer, and while they answer 
he tells what happens to the echo. In the last stanza contrast 
the first two lines with the second two as though the disjunctive 
"but" were between them. Emphasize "they," "faint," "Our," 
and "grow." 

Qet a clear, imaginative picture of the scene. There are many 
auditory images and many opportunities for word-coloring. 



The splendor falls on castle walls 

And snowy summits old in story ; 
The long light shakes across the lakes, 
And the wild cataract leaps in glory. 
Blow, bugle — blow! set the wild echoes flying! 
Blow, bugle! Answer, echoes! dying, dying, dying. 

ii 

O hark! O hear, how thin and clear, 
And thinner, clearer, farther going! 
299 



300 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

O sweet and far from cliff and scar 
The horns of Elfland faintly blowing! 
Blow! lejt us hear the purple glens replying. 
Blow, bugle! Answer, echoes! dying, dying, dying. 

in 

O love, they die in yon rich sky ! 

They faint on hill, or field, or river; 
Our echoes roll from soul to soul, 
And grow for ever and for ever. 
Blow, bugle — blow! set the wild echoes flying! 
And answer, echoes — answer! dying, dying, dying. 



HOME THOUGHTS, FROM ABROAD 

By Robert Browning, Poet. B. 1812, England; d. 1889, Ven- 
ice, Italy. 

In April, 1840, while in Italy, in a momentary weariness of 
his adoration of the Italian scenery, Mr. Browning remembers the 
English landscape with its hedge-rows, its orchard blossoms and 
its thrush-songs, long enough to give us his only gem of the nat- 
ural scenery of his native land. Joyous and enthusiastic admi- 
ration is the dominating emotion. There is no longing. Brown- 
ing was too well content where he was to be really yearning to 
get back to England. 

Oh, to be in England now that April's there, 

And whoever wakes in England sees, some morning, unaware, 

That the lowest boughs and the brush-wood sheaf 

Round the elm-tree bole are in tiny leaf, 

While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough 

In England— now! 

And after April, when May follows 

And the white-throat builds, and all the swallows ! 

Hark, where my blossomed pear-tree in the hedge 

Leans to the field and scatters on the clover 

Blossoms and dewdrops — at the bent spray's edge — 

That's the wise thrush : he sings each song twice over 

Lest you should think he never could recapture 

The first fine careless rapture! 

And though the fields look rough with hoary dew, 

All will be gay when noontide wakes anew 

The buttercups, the little children's dower 

— Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower! 



301 



LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT 

By Cardinal John Henry Newman, Theologian, Author and 
Poet. B. 1801, London; d. 1890, Birmingham, England. 

Cardinal Newman was a profound student of religion. In 
early life he was a Calvinistic protestant. In 1845 he united with 
the Catholic church. There was a continual struggle throughout 
his long life, for "light." 

Movement is slow and deliberate. In the first stanza empha- 
size "distant"; in the second, "Thou," "choose," "see." Bring 
out strongly the contrast in ideas presented in the second stanza. 
In the third stanza do not pause after "still," "on" nor "till." 
Use the spiritual voice throughout. The emotional atmosphere 
is trust. 



Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom, 

Lead Thou me on ; 
The night is dark, and I am far from home, 

Lead Thou me on; 
Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see 
The distant scene ; one step's enough for me. 



I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou 

Shouldst lead me on; 
I loved to choose and see my path; but now 

Lead Thou me on; 
I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, 
Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years. 

in 

So long Thy power has blessed me, sure it still 
Will lead me on 
302 



Lead, Kindly Light 303 

O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till 

The night is gone; 
And with the morn those angel faces smile 
Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile! 

rv 

Meanwhile, along the narrow, rugged path 

Thyself have trod, 
Lead, Savior, lead me home in childlike faith, 

Home to my God, 
To rest forever after earthly strife 
In the calm light of everlasting life. 



THE SANDPIPER 

By Celia Thaxter, Poet. B. 1836, New Hampshire; d. 1894, 
New Hampshire. 

Mrs. Thaxter's home was by the sea, and for many years she 
lived on the Isles of Shoals, ten miles from the main land. The 
first stanza is an expression of childish glee as she watches the 
sandpiper. Appropriately characterize the descriptive scene in 
the second. The third and fourth stanzas are more meditative 
and command a spiritual voice; a slower rate is also desired. In 
the first line of the last stanza emphasize "tonight," and "thou" 
in the fourth line. Have a decided rising slide on the last line. 



Across the narrow beach we flit, 

One little sandpiper and I, 
And fast I gather, bit by bit, 

The scattered driftwood bleached and dry. 
The wild waves reach their hands for it, 

The wild wind raves, the tide runs high, 
As up and down the beach we flit, — 

One little sandpiper and I. 



n 



Above our heads the sullen clouds 

Scud black and swift across the sky; 
Like silent ghosts in misty shrouds 

Stand out the white lighthouses high. 
Almost as far as eye can reach 

I see the close-reefed vessels fly, 
As fast we flit along the beach, 

One little sandpiper and I. 
304 



The Sandpiper 305 

m 

I watch him as he skims along, 

Uttering his sweet and mournful cry. 
He starts not at my fitful song, 

Or flash of fluttering drapery. 
He has no thought of any wrong; 

He scans me with a fearless eye. 
Stanch friends are we, well tried and strong, 

The little sandpiper and I. 

IV 

Comrade, where wilt thou be to-night, 

When the loosed storm breaks furiously? 
My driftwood fire will burn so bright! 

To what warm shelter canst thou fly? 
I do not fear for thee, though wroth 

The tempest rushes through the sky, 
For are we not God's children both, 

Thou, little sandpiper, and I? 



THE SONG OF THE CAMP 

By Bayard Taylor, Author and Poet. B. 1825, Pennsylvania; 
d. 1878, Germany. 

The incident occasioning this love lyric occurred during the 
Crimean War (1854-1856); with Russia on the one hand, and 
Turkey with her allies, France, England, and Sardinia, on the 
other. The English and French began besieging Sebastopol 
early in the Spring of 1855. On Sept. 8th, a final and suc- 
cessful assault was made on the Russian redoubts, the MalakofF 
and the Redan, but with a loss of 10,000 of the allied troops. 

Mr. Taylor never succeeded in keeping the didactic element 
from his poetry. It predominates in this selection. This story 
is full of spirit and with many sudden changes in tone-color. 
The guardsman's words in the third stanza are spoken in a tone 
of permission, not of indifference. In the sixth, express climac- 
tically the progress of the song, and also the transition in the 
last line. The last line of the eighth might be thus expanded: 
"How the English soldiers remember their loved ones." The 
fierce assault of September 8th is portrayed in the ninth; and 
should be rendered accordingly. Observe the touching remi- 
niscence in the tenth; the tender command in the first two, and 
the philosophic truism in the last two lines of the eleventh. 



"Give us a song!" the soldiers cried, 
The outer trenches guarding, 

When the heated guns of the camps allied 
Grew weary of bombarding. 

n 

The dark Redan, in silent scoff, 

Lay, grim and threatening, under; 

And the tawny mound of the MalakofF 
No longer belched its thunder. 
306 



The Song of the Camp 307 



m 



There was a pause. A guardsman said: 
"We storm the forts to-morrow; 

Sing while we may, another day 
Will bring enough of sorrow." 



rv 



They lay along the battery's side, 

Below the smoking cannon; 
Brave hearts, from Severn and from Clyde, 

And from the banks of Shannon. 



They sang of love, and not of fame ; 

Forgot was Britain's glory: 
Each heart recalled a different name, 

But all sang "Annie Laurie." 

VI 

Voice after voice caught up the song, 

Until its tender passion 
Rose like an anthem, rich and strong, — 

Their battle-eve confession. 

vn 

Dear girl, her name he dared not speak, 
But, as the song grew louder, 

Something upon the soldier's cheek 
Washed off the stains of powder. 

vm 

Beyond the darkening ocean burned 
The bloody sunset's embers, 

While the Crimean valleys learned 
How English love remembers. 



308 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 



IX 



And once again a fire of hell 

Rained on the Russian quarters, 

With scream of shot, and burst of shell, 
And bellowing of the mortars! 



And Irish Nora's eyes are dim 
For a singer, dumb and gory; 

And English Mary mourns for him 
Who sang of "Annie Laurie." 

XI 

Sleep, soldiers ! still in honored rest 
Your truth and valor wearing: 

The bravest are the tenderest, — 
The loving are the daring. 




PATRICK HENRY DELIVERING HIS CELEBRATED SPEECH 

From painting by Peter Rothermel 



THE CALF-PATH 

By Sam Walter Foss, Author and Poet. B. 1858, New Hamp- 
shire; d. 1911, Massachusetts. 

This selection is a sermon in verse. It has little to do with 
the emotions. The metropolis to which Mr. Foss refers is 
Boston, and the crooked trail over which now goes "the traffic 
of a continent" is Washington Street. It is a story with a 
moral attached. Tell it as a story. It is intellectual throughout. 



One day through the primeval wood 

A calf walked home as good calves should, 

But made a trail all bent askew, 

A crooked trail, as all calves do. 

Since then three hundred years have fled, 

And I infer the calf is dead. 

n 

But still he left behind his trail, 

And thereby hangs my moral tale. 

The trail was taken up next day 

By a lone dog that passed that way, 

And then a wise bell-wether sheep 

Pursued the trail o'er vale and steep ; 

And drew the flock behind him, too, 

As good bell-wethers always do. 

And from that day, o'er hill and glade, 

Through those old woods a path was made. 

m 

And many men wound in and out, 
And dodged and turned and bent about, 
309 



310 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

And uttered words of righteous wrath 
Because 'twas such a crooked path; 
But still they followed — do not laugh — 
The first migrations of that calf, 
And through the winding wood-way stalked, 
Because he wobbled when he walked. 

IV 

This forest path became a lane 
That bent and turned and turned again ; 
This crooked lane became a road, 
Where many a poor horse with his load 
Toiled on beneath the burning sun, 
And traveled some three miles in one. 
And thus a century and a half 
They trod the footsteps of that calf. 



The years passed on in swiftness fleet, 
The road became a village street; 
And this, before men were aware, 
A city's crowded thoroughfare. 
And soon the central street was this 
Of a renowned metropolis ! 
And men two centuries and a half 
Trod in the footsteps of that calf. 

VI 

Each day a hundred thousand rout 
Followed the zigzag calf about, 
And o'er his crooked journey went 
The traffic of a continent. 
A hundred thousand men were led 
By one calf near three centuries dead. 
They followed still his crooked way, 
And lost one hundred years a day; 



The Calf-Path 311 

For thus such reverence is lent 
To well-established precedent. 

VII 

A moral lesson this might teach 
Were I ordained and called to preach ; 
For men are prone to go it blind 
Along the calf-paths of the mind, 
And work away from sun to sun 
To do what other men have done. 

VIII 

They follow in the beaten track, 
And out and in, and forth and back, 
And still their devious course pursue, 
To keep the path that others do. 
They keep the path a sacred groove, 
Along which all their lives they move ; 
But how the wise old wood-gods laugh, 
Who saw the first primeval calf. 
Ah, many things this tale might teach — 
But I am not ordained to preach. 



THE DAFFODILS 

By William Wordsworth, Poet. B. 1770, England; d. 1850, 
England. 

Dorothy Wordsworth, sister and constant companion of the 
poet, in her diary, writes of their visit on April 15, 1802, to 
Gowbarrow Park, Ullswater, England. 

"I never saw daffodils so beautiful. They grew among the 
grassy stones, about and above them; some rested their heads 
upon these stones, as on a pillow for weariness; and the rest 
tossed and reeled and danced, and seemed as if they verily 
laughed with the wind that blew directly over the lake to them." 
With this picture flashing upon his "inward eye," Wordsworth 
wrote this beautiful poem two years later. 

Suggest the mental attitude of the poet in the first two lines 
by a sustained inflection and long quantity. Express the sur- 
prise manifest at the beginning of the third line and the delight 
in seeing the flowers. In the second stanza group the words 
"shine and twinkle"; emphasize "They" to show the similarity 
between the stars and the daffodils. Note the change from a 
joyful to a thoughtful mood in the last two lines of the third 
stanza, and vice versa in the last two lines of the last stanza. 



I wandered lonely as a cloud 

That floats on high o'er vales and hills, 

When all at once I saw a crowd, 

A host, of golden daffodils ; 

Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. 

n 

Continuous as the stars that shine 
And twinkle on the milky way, 
They stretch'd in never-ending line 
312 



The Daffodils 313 

Along the margin of the bay; 
Ten thousand saw I at a glance, 
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. 

m 

The waves beside them danced; but they 

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee; 

A poet could not but be gay, 

In such a jocund company; 

I gazed — and gazed — but little thought 

What wealth the show to me had brought; 

rv 

For oft, when on my couch I lie 
In vacant or in pensive mood, 
They flash upon that inward eye 
Which is the bliss of solitude; 
And then my heart with pleasure fills, 
And dances with the daffodils. 



MY SHADOW 

By Robert Louis Stevenson, Author and Poet. B. 1850, Scot- 
land; d. 1894, Samoa Island. 

This is one of the selections from A Child's Garden of Verses 
(published in 1885), and is a story in verse. Impersonate the 
child's enthusiasm and interest. Use time-emphasis on "taller," 
and appropriate word-color on "little." There is a touch of 
childish conceit and ridicule in the third stanza, and a little 
boasting in the last. Get the child view-point. 

I 

I have a little shadow that goes in and out with me, 
And what can be the use of him is more than I can see. 
He is very, very like me from the heels up to the head; 
And I see him jump before me, when I jump into my bed. 

n 

The funniest thing about him is the way he likes to grow — 
Not at all like proper children which is always very slow; 
For he sometimes shoots up taller like an india-rubber ball, 
And he sometimes gets so little that there's none of him at all. 

in 
He hasn't got a notion of how children ought to play, 
And can only make a fool of me in every sort of way. 
He stays so close beside me, he's a coward you can see ; 
I'd think shame to stick to nursie as that shadow sticks to 
me! 

rv 

One morning very early, before the sun was up, 
I rose and found the shining dew on every buttercup ; 
But my lazy little shadow, like an arrant sleepy-head, 
Had stayed at home behind me, and was fast asleep in bed. 

314 



LITTLE BOY BLUE 

By Eugene Field, Poet and Journalist. B. 1850, Missouri; 
d. 1895, Illinois. 

From A Little Booh of Western Verse (1889). This beauti- 
ful lyric is written in the minor key, a melody of mingled love 
and sorrow, occasioned by the death of Mr. Field's own little 
son. This burst of grief voices the sorrow of many a bereaved 
parent. 

Remember that it is a father speaking. Do not impersonate 
the child in the second stanza. Note the transition in the last 
two lines of the stanza; and emphasize "many," "long" and 
"true." 



The little toy dog is covered with dust, 

But sturdy and staunch he stands ; 
And the little toy soldier is red with rust, 

And his musket moulds in his hands. 
Time was when the little toy dog was new 

And the soldier was passing fair, 
And that was the time when our Little Boy Blue 

Kissed them and put them there. 

n 

"Now don't you go till I come," he said, 

"And don't you make any noise!" 
So toddling off to his trundle-bed 

He dreamt of the pretty toys. 
And as he was dreaming, an angel song 

Awakened our Little Boy Blue, — 
Oh, the years are many, the years are long, 

But the little toy friends are true. 

315 



316 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

m 

Ay, faithful to Little Boy Blue they stand, 

Each in the same old place, 
Awaiting the touch of a little hand, 

The smile of a little face. 
And they wonder, as waiting these long years through. 

In the dust of that little chair, 
What has become of our Little Boy Blue, 

Since he kissed them and put them there. 



TEARS, IDLE TEARS 

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Poet. B. 1809, England; d. 1892, 
England. 

This is another poem taken from The Princess. Poetic genius 
often tries to express the inexpressible. This "feeling of sad- 
ness and longing" frequently comes from a sight that is in itself 
anything but sad, — the "happy autumn fields." This indeter- 
minate longing which comes to the sensitive soul who can reach 
beyond the material world is not unlike the emotions St. Paul 
speaks of as "groanings that can not be uttered." "This poem," 
says Tennyson, "was written at Tintern when the woods were 
yellowing with autumn seen through the ruined windows. It is 
what I have always felt even from a boy, and what as a boy I 
called the 'passion of the past.' And so it is with me now; 
it is the distance that charms me in the landscape, in the pic- 
ture, and the past, and not the immecliate to-day in which I 
move." 

Slow meditative movement; long downward inflections should 
be used. Its rhythm is so perfect that we do not feel the ab- 
sence of the rhyme, a contribution to English lyrics peculiarly 
Tennyson's. This poem represents Melancholy personified. 



Tears, idle tears, I know not what they mean. 
Tears from the depth of some divine despair 
Rise in the heart and gather to the eyes, 
In looking on the happy autumn fields, 
And thinking of the days that are no more. 



Fresh as the first beam glittering on a sail, 
That brings our friends up from the under world, 
Sad as the last which reddens over one 
317 



318 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

That sinks with all we love below the verge! 
So sad, so fresh, the days that are no more. 

in 

Ah, sad and strange as in dark summer dawns 

The earliest pipe of half-awakened birds 

To dying ears, when unto dying eyes 

The casement slowly grows a glimmering square; 

So sad, so strange, the days that are no more. 

IV 

Dear as remembered kisses after death, 
And sweet as those by hopeless fancy feigned 
On lips that are for others ; deep as love, 
Deep as first love, and wild with all regret; 
O Death in Life, the days that are no more. 



BREAK, BREAK, BREAK 

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Poet. B. 1809, England; d. 1892, 
England. 

Upon the reverse side of the leaf from a note-book on which 
this poem was written, was the sentence: "Made in a Lincoln- 
shire lane at 5 o'clock in the morning between blossoming 
hedges." But Tennyson was not thinking of the hedge-rows, but 
of a grave at Clevedon beside the sea where his beloved friend, 
Arthur Hallam, lay buried. 

This poem is a fore-runner of In Memoriam, and expresses 
the overwhelming grief of the poet for his bosom friend who 
died in 1833. The movement is slow throughout, with long 
downward inflections. Suggest the dull monotonous "break" of 
the waves against the rocks. The second stanza suggests a con- 
trast, but there is no annoyance shown at this interruption in 
his thoughts. The comparison makes his grief all the more 
poignant. 

I 

Break, break, break, 

On thy cold, gray stones, O Sea! 

And I would that my tongue could utter 
The thoughts that arise in me. 

n 

Oh, well for the fisherman's boy 

That he shouts with his sister at play ! 

Oh, well for the sailor-lad 

That he sings in his boat on the bay! 

. m 

And the stately ships go on, 

To the haven under the hill; 
But oh, for the touch of a vanished hand, 

And the sound of a voice that is still ! 
319 



320 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 



IV 



Break, break, break, 

At the foot of thy crags, O Sea! 
But the tender grace of a day that is dead 

Will never come back to me. 



O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN! 

By Walt Whitman, Author and Poet. B. 1819, New York; 
d. 1892, New Jersey. 

Mr. Whitman became a volunteer nurse in the army hospitals 
in Washington in 1862. This frequently brought him in touch 
with President Lincoln whom he learned to love as a father. 
President Lincoln was assassinated in 1865. This poem is the 
overflow of a heart that not only throbbed its own deep personal 
loss, but voiced the heart-sobs of a nation in her hour of tears. 

The first four lines express the exultation of the safe return 
of the Ship of State; the next four mark a transition and ex- 
press a deep sorrow for the dead Captain. The second stanza 
is an anxious appeal to the Captain. The third stanza is a 
subjective monolog expressing the grief that is so keenly felt by 
all. The fifth line is not a joyous command. The last four 
lines might be paraphrased thus: If you people wish to rejoice, 
because the Nation is safe, go and ring your bells ; but for me, 
I shall mourn for our leader and personal friend. 



O Captain! my Captain! our fearful trip is done, 

The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is 

won, 
The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, 
While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and dar- 
ing; 
But O heart! heart! heart! 
O the bleeding drops of red, 

Where on the deck my Captain lies, 
Fallen cold and dead. 



O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells; 
Rise up — for you the flag is flung — for you the bugle trills. 

321 



3££ Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths — for you the shores 

a-crowding, 
For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces 
turning ; 
Here Captain! dear father! 
This arm beneath your head! 

It is some dream that on the deck, 
You've fallen cold and dead. 

in 

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, 
My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, 
The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed 

and done, 
From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; 
Exult O shores, and ring O bells! 
But I with mournful tread, 

Walk the deck my Captain lies, 
Fallen cold and dead. 



THE RECESSIONAL 

By Rudyard Kipling, Poet and Author. B. 1864, Bombay, 
India; now living in England. 

Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee was celebrated in 1897. The 
London Times wrote tOvMr. Kipling for a poem on the Jubilee. 
He made many attempts before he finally produced "The Reces- 
sional," which within a few months became a universal favorite. 

To understand this poem it is necessary to picture the pomp 
and pageantry of this great Jubilee. "Native princes from the 
Far East, ambassadors from the royal houses of Europe, the 
vast military and naval displays, the magnificent civic celebra- 
tion by procession, public services, and bonfires, — all united to 
pour out a nation's adulation and praise to England's greatest 
Queen." During this celebration of England's prowess and 
while the armies were returning, the navies melting away, the 
kings departing, the bonfires dying out, and the entire nation 
was "drunk with sight of power," — Kipling wished to remind 
the people that they must not forget the great King of Kings. 

This is a prayer. An anxious appeal to the "God of Hosts" 
for His watchful care over the destiny of the nation. Long 
inflections must be used, since the poem is intensely emotional. 
Make the last two lines of each stanza a passionate plea, — an 
expression of anxiety, awe and adoration. 



God of our fathers, known of old — 
Lord of our far-flung battle line- 
Beneath Whose awful Hand we hold 

Dominion over palm and pine — 
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, 
Lest we forget — lest we forget ! 



The tumult and the shouting dies — 
The captains and the kings depart — 
323 



SM Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Still stands Thine ancient Sacrifice, 

An humble and a contrite heart. 
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, 
Lest we forget — lest we forget! 

m 

Far-called our navies melt away — 

On dune and headland sinks the fire — 

Lo, all our pomp of yesterday 
Is one with Nineveh and Tyre! 

Judge of the nations, spare us yet, 

Lest we forget — lest we forget! 

rv 

If, drunk with sight of power, we loose 

Wild tongues that have not Thee in awe- 
Such boasting as the Gentiles use 

Or lesser breeds without the Law — 
Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, 
Lest we forget — lest we forget! 



For heathen heart that puts her trust 
In reeking tube and iron shard — 

All valiant dust that builds on dust, 

And guarding calls not Thee to guard — 

For frantic boast and foolish word, 

Thy mercy on Thy People, Lord! Amen! 



COLUMBUS 

By Cincinnatus Heine Miller (Joaquin Miller), Author and 
Poet. B. 1841, Indiana; d. 1913, California. 

The story of Columbus and his crew is too well known to need 
repetition. The following poem, in a recent critical article in 
the London Atheneum, received this commendation: "In point 
of power, workmanship and feeling, among all the poems written 
by Americans, we are inclined to give first place to the Port of 
Ships (Columbus) by Joaquin Miller." 

The poet vividly contrasts the fear, discouragement and utter 
hopelessness of the mate as spokesman for the crew with the 
faith, firmness and relentless persistence of the Admiral. The 
feeling of discouragement and firmness is climactically intensi- 
fied in the first four stanzas. Use a downward inflection on the 
last "on" at the end of each stanza. Observe the sudden tran- 
sition in the last line of the third, and the fourth line of the 
fifth stanza. Express in appropriate tone-quality the discour- 
agement of the mate and the determination of the Admiral, and 
the note of triumph in the fourth, fifth and sixth lines of the last 
stanza. 



Behind him lay the gray Azores, 

Behind the Gates of Hercules ; 
Before him not the ghost of shores, 

Before him only shoreless seas. 
The good mate said : "Now we must pray, 

For lo ! the very stars are gone. 
Brave Adm'rl, speak; what shall I say?" 

"Why say: 'Sail on! sail on! sail on!'" 

n 

"My men grow mutinous day by day; 

My men grow ghastly, wan and weak." 
325 



326 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

The stout mate thought of home; a spray 
Of salt wave washed his swarthy cheek. 

"What shall I say, brave Adm'rl, say 
If we sight naught but seas at dawn?" 

"Why, you shall say at break of day: 
'Sail on! sail on! sail on! sail on!' " 

in 

They sailed and sailed, as winds might blow, 

Until at last the blanched mate said: 
"Why, not ,even God would know 

Should I and all my men fall dead. 
These very winds forget their way, 

For God from these dread seas is gone. 
Now speak, brave Adm'rl ; speak and say — " 

He said: "Sail on! sail on! and on!" 

rv 

They sailed. They sailed. Then spake the mate 

"This mad sea shows its teeth to-night. 
He curls his lip, he lies in wait, 

With lifted teeth, as if to bite! 
Brave Adm'rl, say but one good word; 

What shall we do when hope is gone?" 
The words leapt as a leaping sword : 

"Sail on! sail on! sail on! and on!" 



Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck, 

And peered through darkness. Ah, that night 
Of all dark nights And then a speck — 

A light ! A light ! A light ! A light ! 
It grew, a starlit flag unfurled! 

It grew to be Time's burst of dawn. 
He gained a world; he gave that world 

Its grandest lesson: "On! sail on!" 



EXCELSIOR 



By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Author and Poet. B. 
1807, Maine; d. 1882, Massachusetts. 

This poem was written September 28, 1841. A New York 
journal, bearing the seal of the State of New York, — "a shield, 
with a rising sun, and the motto in heraldic Latin, 'Excelsior/ '' 
suggested to Mr. Longfellow the writing of this poem. ' His 
imagination immediately pictured a youth scaling the Alpine 
mountains with a pennant affixed to his alpenstock, bearing the 
word "Excelsior." It is the symbol of inspiration and sacrifice. 
Edgar Allan Poe says: "It depicts the earnest, upward impulse 
of the soul — an impulse not to be subdued even in Death. Des- 
pising danger, resisting pleasure, the }'outh, bearing the banner 
inscribed 'Excelsior !' (higher still) struggles through all diffi- 
culties to an Alpine summit. Warned to be content with the 
elevation attained, his cry is still, 'Excelsior !' There is yet an 
immortal height to be surmounted — an ascent in Eternity. The 
poet holds in view the idea of never-ending progress." 

Great care should be exercised in reading this selection. Ob- 
serve the various moods in the different stanzas. The refrain 
"Excelsior !" must be spoken so as to represent the various emo- 
tions of the youth, which differ in nearly every stanza. The 
word "Excelsior!" may be made the basis of a good drill by 
having a pupil express the word as characteristic of the differ- 
ent moods and have the class determine for which stanza it 
was intended. 



The shades of night were falling fast, 
As through an Alpine village passed 
A youth, who bore, 'mid snow and ice, 
A banner with the strange device — 
Excelsior ! 

327 



328 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

n 

His brow was sad; his eye beneath 
Flashed like a falchion from its sheath; 
And like a silver clarion rung 
The accents of that unknown tongue — 
Excelsior ! 

in 
In happy homes he saw the light 
Of household fires gleam warm and bright, 
Above, the spectral glaciers shone, 
And from his lips escaped a groan — 
Excelsior ! 



rv 

"Try not the pass," the old man said: 
"Dark lowers the tempest overhead; 
The roaring torrent is deep and wide !" 
And loud that clarion voice replied, 
Excelsior ! 



"Oh, stay," the maiden said, "and rest 
Thy weary head upon this breast!" 
A tear stood in his bright blue eye, 
But still he answered with a sigh, 
Excelsior ! 

VI 

"Beware the pine-tree's withered branch! 
Beware the awful avalanche!" 
This was the peasant's last good night. 
A voice replied, far up the height, 
Excelsior ! 



Excelsior 329 

vn 

At break of day, as heavenward 
The pious monks of St. Bernard 
Uttered the oft-repeated prayer, 
A voice cried through the startled air, 
Excelsior ! 

vm 

A traveler, by the faithful hound, 
Half-buried in the snow was found, 
Still grasping in his hand of ice 
That banner with the strange device, 
Excelsior ! 

IX 

There in the twilight cold and gray, 
Lifeless, but beautiful, he lay 
And from the sky, serene and far, 
A voice fell, like a falling star — 
Excelsior ! 



THE HOUSE BY THE SIDE OF THE ROAD 



By Sam Walter Foss, Author and Poet. B. 1858, New Hamp- 
shire; d. 191 I, Massachusetts. 

This selection, though comparatively new, has been received 
with great enthusiasm. The sentiment of the poem — that of 
friendship— was suggested to the poet by this line from Homer, 
"He was a friend to man, and lived in a house by the side of 
the road." Read with real enthusiasm and sincerity. This 
poem contains a sentiment we can well afford to cultivate. 



There are hermit souls that live withdrawn 

In the peace of their self-content; 
There are souls, like stars, that dwell apart, 

In a fellowless firmament. 
There are pioneer souls that blaze their paths 

Where highways never ran; 
But let me live by the side of the road 

And be a friend to man. 



Let me live in a house by the side of the road, 

Where the race of men go by — 
The men who are good and the men who are bad. 

As good and as bad as I. 
I would not sit in the scorner's seat, 

Or hurl the cynic's ban; 
Let me live in my house by the side of the road 

And be a friend to man. 
330 



The House by the Side of the Road 331 

m 

I see from my house by the side of the road, 

By the side of the highway of life, 
The men who press with the ardor of hope, 

The men who are faint with the strife. 
But I turn not away from their smiles nor their tears — 

Both parts of an infinite plan; 
Let me live in my house by the side of the road 

And be a friend to man. 

rv 

I know there are brook-gladdened meadows ahead, 

And mountains of wearisome height; 
That the road passes on through the long afternoon, 

And stretches away to the night. 
But still I rejoice when the travelers rejoice, 

And weep with the strangers that moan, 
Nor live in my house by the side of the road 

Like a man who dwells alone. 



Let me live in my house by the side of the road 

Where the race of men go by — 
They are good, they are bad, they are weak, they are 
strong, 

Wise, foolish — so am I. 
Then why should I sit in the scorner's seat, 

Or hurl the cynic's ban? — 
Let me live in my house by the side of the road 

And be a friend to man. 



AN INCIDENT OF THE FRENCH CAMP 



By Robert Browning, Poet. B. 1818, England; d. 1889, 
Italy. 

This touching story is a good example of one of Browning's 
monologues. A Frenchman is telling the incident to one or more 
of his countrymen. The whole story centers around the Spartan 
bravery of the boy-messenger. Let this emotion pervade the en- 
tire selection. Express the deep concern in "You're wounded"; 
and the wounded pride in "I'm killed, sire !" 



You know we French stormed Ratisbon 

A mile or so away, 
On a little mound, Napoleon 

Stood on our storming-day; 
With neck out-thrust, you fancy how, 

Legs wide, arms locked behind, 
As if to balance the prone brow, 

Oppressive with its mind. 



Just as perhaps he mused, "My plans 

That soar, to earth may fall. 
Let once my army-leader, Lannes, 

Waver at yonder wall," — 
Out 'twixt the battery-smokes there flew 

A rider, bound on bound 
Full-galloping; nor bridle drew 

Until he reached the mound. 
332 



An Incident of the French Camp 

m 

Then off there flung in smiling joy, 

And held himself erect 
By just his horse's mane, a boy: 

You hardly could suspect — 
So tight he kept his lips compressed, 

Scarce any blood came through — 
You looked twice ere you saw his breast 

Was all but shot in two. 

IV 

"Well," cried he, "Emperor, by God's grace 

We've got you Ratisbon! 
The marshal's in the market-place, 

And you'll be there anon 
To see your flag-bird flap his vans 

Where I, to heart's desire, 
Perched him!" The chief's eye flashed; his plans 

Soared up again like fire. 



The chief's eye flashed; but presently 

Softened itself, as sheathes 
A film the mother eagle's eye 

When her bruised eaglet breathes. 
"You're wounded!" "Nay," his soldier's pride 

Touched to the quick, he said: 
"I'm killed, sire !" and, his chief beside, 

Smiling, the boy fell dead. 



THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE AT 
BALAKLAVA 

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Poet. B. 1809, England; d. 
1892, Isle of Wight. 

In the Crimean War between England and Russia, the Rus- 
sians had advanced to threaten Balaklava. Their redoubts ex- 
tended for about one-half mile along two adjacent ridges, with 
the main army at one end of the valley between. Lord Raglan, 
in command of the English forces, decided to move against the 
Russians. On Oct. 25, 1854, he ordered his heavy cavalry to 
advance. Next the light cavalry was ordered into rank. The 
Russians were amazed at first and did not dream that the light 
cavalry was really charging down upon them. But soon the 
Russian guns poured forth a murderous cross fire from both 
sides, from the front and even in the rear. The English suc- 
ceeded in breaking through one line of the Russian infantry, 
before a retreat was ordered. Only 195 out of 673 succeeded 
in returning to the place they had left twenty minutes before. 

One evening two months later, Tennyson wrote this poem to 
let the soldiers know "that those who sit at home love and honor 
them." 

Note how the rhythm and meter is suggested by the galloping 
horses. Also, that the commands and the immediate action are 
intellectual and not emotional, and are therefore expressed in 
short and abrupt accents. 

In the second stanza observe the emphasis on "man," "knew," 
and "do," but not on "die." It was not their duty to die. 

The next three stanzas are narrative with an accumulative 
interest and intensity toward the close of the fourth stanza, fol- 
lowed by the first important transition in the line. 
"Then they rode back; but not — 
Not the six hundred." 
This transition should be marked with a change of movement 
in pitch and quality of tone. Express the word "hell" with 
energetic intensity. 

The last stanza marks another important transition. This 

334 



The Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava 335 

stanza should be expressed with dignity, and with deep sympathy 
and admiration. The entire poem is a dirge, but radiates with 
honor for the brave men. 



Half a league, half a league, 
Half a league onward, 
All in the valley of Death 

Rode the six hundred. 
"Forward, the Light Brigade ! 
Charge for the guns !" he said : 
Into the valley of Death 

Rode the six hundred. 



"Forward, the Light Brigade !" 
Was there a man dismay'd? 
Not tho' the soldier knew 
Some one had blunder'd: 
Theirs not to make reply, 
Theirs not to reason why, — 
Theirs but to do and die: 
Into the valley of Death 
Rode the six hundred. 

in 

Cannon to right of them, 
Cannon to left of them, 
Cannon in front of them 

Volleyed and thundered; 
Storm'd at with shot and shell, 
Boldly they rode and well, 
Into the jaws of Death, 
Into the mouth of Hell, 

Rode the six hundred. „ 



336 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

IV 

Flashed all their sabres bare, 
Flashed as they turned in air, 
Sabring the gunners there, 
Charging an army, while 

All the world wondered: 
Plunged in the battery-smoke, 
Right through the line they broke: 
Cossack and Russian 
Reeled from the sabre-stroke 
Shattered and sundered. 
Then they rode back, but not — 
Not the Six Hundred. 



Cannon to right of them, 
Cannon to left of them, 
Cannon behind them 

Volleyed and thundered; 
Stormed at with shot and shell, 
While horse and hero fell, 
They that had fought so well 
Came from the jaws of Death 
Back from the mouth of Hell 
All that was left of them, 

Left of Six Hundred. 

VI 

When can their glory fade? 
Oh, the wild charge they made ! 

All the world wondered. 
Honor the charge they made! 
Honor the Light Brigade, 

Noble Six Hundred. 



POLISH WAR SONG 

By James Gates Percival, Scientist and Poet. B. 1795, Con- 
necticut; d. 1856, Wisconsin. 

Sobieski was king of Poland from 1674-1696; and was one 
of the greatest warriors of the 19th century. General Kosciusko 
(Kos-choosh'-ko) died in 1817, having frequently defeated Rus- 
sian armies ten times greater than his own. The partition of 
Poland as rearranged by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 was 
not satisfactory to Poland. On November 29, 1830, an insur- 
rection broke out in Warsaw, and for a short time the Russians 
were again driven from Poland. This poem represents the 
Polish battle cry for independence on this occasion. 

The selection is an oration in verse. It is an appeal to the 
will. Express every line with vigor and enthusiasm, just as 
though you actually were arousing men to fall into battle line. 
Use the vital voice, as the selection is volitional throughout. 
Come in strong on the last line, and on the last word. 



Freedom calls you ! Quick, be ready, — 

Rouse ye in the name of God, — 
Onward, onward, strong and steady, — 
Dash to earth the oppressor's rod. 
Freedom calls, ye brave ! 
Rise and spurn the name of slave. 



Grasp the sword! — its edge is keen, 
Seize the gun ! — its ball is true : 
Sweep the land from tyrant clean, — 

Haste, and scour it through and through ! 
Onward, onward! Freedom cries, 
Rush to arms, — the tyrant flies. 
337 



338 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

in 

By the souls of patriots gone, 

Wake, — arise, — your fetters break, 
Kosciusko bids you on, — 
Sobieski cries awake! 

Rise, and front the despot czar, 
Rise, and dare the unequal war. 

IV 

Freedom calls you! Quick, be ready, — 
Think of what your sires have been, 
Onward, onward ! strong and steady, 
Drive the tyrant to his den. 

On, and let the watchword be, 
Country, home, and liberty ! 



CATILINE'S REPLY 

By George Croly, Author and Clergyman. B. 1780, Ireland; 
d. I860, Ireland. 

Catiline failing to gain the consulship of Rome through suf- 
frage, conspired to secure control by force of arms. This sup- 
posed speech was a reply to Cicero's oration Catiline Denounced. 
After his banishment, Catiline joined his army, was defeated in 
battle and killed. 

Catiline was a man of great influence and power. His threats 
are not vain boasts ; he believed he could carry them out, for on 
his side were many men of great influence, men who commanded 
great resources and large armies. 



Conscript Fathers: 
I do not rise to waste the night in words ; 
Let that Plebeian talk, 't is not my trade. 
But here I stand for right, — let him show proofs, — 
For Roman right, though none, it seems, dare stand 
To take their share with me. Ay, cluster there ! 
Cling to your master, judges, Romans, slaves ! 
His charge is false, I dare him to his proofs. 
You have my answer. Let my actions speak. 

ii 

But this I will avow, that I have scorned, 
And still do scorn, to hide my sense of wrong. 
Who brands me on the forehead, breaks my sword, 
Or lays the bloody scourge upon my back, 
Wrongs me not half so much as he who shuts 
The gates of honor on me — turning out 
The Roman from his birthright; and for what? 

339 



340 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

To fling your offices to every slave! 

Vipers, that creep where man disdains to climb, 

And, having wound their loathsome track to the top 

Of this huge, mouldering monument of Rome, 

Hang hissing at the nobler man below! 

in 

Come, consecrated Lictors, from your thrones, 
Fling down your sceptres, take the rod and axe, 
And make the murder as you make the law! 
Banished from Rome ! What's banished, but set free 
From daily contact of the things I loathe? 
"Tried and convicted traitor!" Who says this? 
Who'll prove it — at his peril — on my head? 
Banished! I thank you for 't. It breaks my chain! 
I held some slack allegiance till this hour, 
But now my sword's my own. Smile on, my Lords ! 
I scorn to count what feelings, withered hopes, 
Strong provocations, bitter, burning wrongs, 
I have within my heart's hot cells shut up, 
To leave you in your lazy dignities. 
But here I stand and scoff you ! here I fling 
Hatred and full defiance in your face! 
Your consul's merciful, for this all thanks ! 
He dares not touch a hair of Catiline ! 

IV 

"Traitor!" I go ; but, I return ! This— trial? 
Here I devote your senate! I've had wrongs 
To stir a fever in the blood of age, 
Or make the infant's sinews strong as steel. 
This day's the birth of sorrow! this hour's work 
Will breed proscriptions ! Look to your hearths, my Lords ! 
For there, henceforth, shall sit for household gods, 
Shapes hot from Tartarus, all shames and crimes! 



Catiline's Reply 341 

Wan Treachery, with his thirsty dagger drawn ; 
Suspicion, poisoning his brother's cup ; 
Naked Rebellion, with the torch and axe, 
Making wild sport of your blazing thrones ; 
Till Anarchy comes down on you like night, 
And Massacre seals Rome's eternal grave ! 



I go ! but not to leap the gulf alone. 
I go ! but wjien I come, 't will be the burst 
Of ocean in the earthquake, rolling back 
In swift and mountainous ruin. Fare you well! 
You build my funeral-pile ; but your best blood 
Shall quench its flame ! — Back, slaves ! — 
I will return ! 



BRUTUS ON THE DEATH OF LUCRETIA 

By John Howard Payne, Actor and Playwright. B. 1791,. 
New York; d. 1852, Tunis, Tripoli. 

A son of Tarquin the Proud, King of Rome, caused the death 
of Lucretia. Lucius Junius Brutus fired by a desired for re- 
venge gathered together an army composed of the best blood of 
Rome and drove the Tarquins from the city. A republican form 
of government was then established and Brutus became one of 
the two first consuls (B.C. 1509). This poem is a part of 
Scene 4, Act III of the play called Brutus. Brutus convokes 
the citizens by the following speech. 



Thus, thus, my friends ! fast as our breaking hearts 
Permitted utterance, we have told our story; 
And now, to say one word of the imposture, 
The mask necessity has made me wear. 
When the ferocious malice of your king, — 
King, do I call him? — when the monster, Tarquin, 
Slew, as most of you may well remember, 
My father, Marcus, and my elder brother, 
Envying at once their virtues and their wealth, 
How could I hope a shelter from his power, 
But in the false face I have worn so long? 



Would you know why I summoned you together? 
Ask ye what brings me here? Behold this dagger 
Clotted with gore ! Behold that frozen corse { 
See where the lost Lucretia sleeps in death ! 
She was the mark and model of the time, 

342 



Brutus on the Death of Lucretia 343 

The mould in which each female face was formed, 

The very shrine and sacristy of virtue ! 

The worthiest of the worthy ! Not the Nymph 

Who met old Numa in his hallowed walks, 

And whispered in his ear her strains divine, 

Can I conceive beyond her. The young choir 

Of vestal virgins bent to her. 'T is wonderful, 

Amid the darnel, hemlock, and base weeds, 

Which now spring rife from the luxurious compost 

Spread o'er the realm, how this sweet lily rose ; 

How, from the shade of those ill neighboring plants, 

Her father sheltered her, that not a leaf 

Was blighted, but, arrayed in purest grace, 

Bloomed in unsullied beauty. Such perfections 

Might have called back the torpid breast of age 

To "long-forgotten rapture; such a mind 

Might have abashed the boldest libertine, 

And turned desire to reverential love 

And holiest affection. O my countrymen ! 

You all can witness when that she went forth 

It was a holiday in Rome; old age 

Forgot its crutch, labor its task, — all ran, 

And mothers, turning to their daughters, cried, 

"There, there's Lucretia !" — Now, look ye, where she lies ! 

That beauteous flower, that innocent sweet rose, 

Torn up by ruthless violence, — gone! gone! gone! 

in 

Say would ye seek instructions? would ye know 
What ye should do? Ask ye yon conscious walls 
Which saw his poisoned brother, saw the crime 
Committed there, and they will cry, Revenge ! 
Ask yonder senate-house, whose stones are purple 
With human blood, and it will cry, Revenge ! 
Go to the tomb where lies his murdered wife, 
And the poor queen, who loved him as her son, 



344 Oral Reading and Public Sjteakmg 

Their unappeased ghosts will shriek, Revenge! 
The temples of the gods, the all-viewing heavens, 
The gods themselves shall justify the cry, 
And swell the general sound, Revenge ! Revenge ! 



IV 

And we will be revenged, my countrymen! 
Brutus shall lead you on ; Brutus, a name 
Which will, when you're revenged, be dearer to him 
Than all the noblest titles earth can boast. 
Brutus your king? No, fellow-citizens! 
If mad ambition in this guilty frame 
Had strung one kingly fibre, yea, but one, 
By all the gods ! this dagger which I hold 
Should rip it out, though it entwined my heart. 



Now, take the body up. Bear it before us 
To Tarquin's palace; there we'll light our torches, 
And, in the blazing conflagration, rear 
A pile for these chaste relics, that shall send 
Her soul among the stars. On! On! Brutus leads you! 
On to the Forum! Brutus shall set you free! 



THE SEMINOLE'S DEFIANCE 

By George Washington Patten, Soldier and Author. B. 1808, 
Rhode Island; d. 1882, Maine. 

This selection is taken from a volume of poems Voices from 
the Border (1867). Mr. Patten was a soldier in the Seminole 
Wars. In 1835 the wife of Osceola, the famous Seminole chief, 
was reclaimed as a fugitive negro slave. Osceola threatened re- 
venge. For this he was cast into prison for a year. When freed 
he began the attacks on the whites, opening the second Semi- 
nole War. 

This poem is an expression of the undaunted chief's hatred, 
scorn, and defiance of the white man. 



Blaze, with your serried columns ! 

I will not bend the knee ! 
The shackles ne'er again shall bind 

The arm which now is free. 
I've mailed it with the thunder, 

When the tempest muttered low; 
And where it falls, ye well may dread 

The lightning of its blow! 

n 

I've scared ye in the city, 

I've scalped ye on the plain; 
Go, count your chosen where they fell 

Beneath my leaden rain! 
I scorn your proffered treaty! 

The pale-face I defy ! 
Revenge is stamped upon my spear, 

And "blood" my battle-cry! 
345 



346 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

m 

Some strike for hope of booty ; 

Some to defend their all; 
I battle for the joy I have 

To see the white man fall; 
I love, among the wounded, 

To hear his dying moan, 
And catch, while chanting at his side, 

The music of his groan. 

IV 

Ye've trailed me through the forest.' 

Ye've tracked me o'er the stream! 
And, struggling through the Everglade, 

Your bristling bayonets gleam; 
But I stand as should the warrior, 

With his rifle and his spear; 
The scalp of vengeance still is red, 

And warns ye, come not here ! 



Think ye to find my homestead? — 

I gave it to the fire. 
My tawny household do you seek? — 

I am a childless sire. 
But, should you crave life's nourishment, 

Enough I have and good; 
I live on hate, — 'tis all my bread ; 

Yet light is not my food. 

vi 

I loathe ye in my bosom! 

I scorn ye with mine eye! 
And I'll taunt ye with my latest breath, 



The Seminole's Defiance 347 

And fight ye till I die! 
I ne'er will ask for quarter, 

And I ne'er will be your slave; 
But I'll swim the sea of slaughter 

Till I sink beneath its wave! 



•THE SWORD OF ROBERT LEE 

By Rev. Abram J. Ryan, Priest and Poet. B. 1839, Vir- 
ginia; d. 1886, Kentucky. 

Father Ryan was a chaplain in the Confederate Army and 
a great friend and admirer of Robert E. Lee. The poem is a 
pean of praise, and was written soon after the close of the 
Civil War. 

Honor, praise and loyalty characterize this selection through- 
out. The meter and the general style are not different from the 
preceding poem, "Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava." 
Love, devotion and triumph appear in every stanza. Speak in a 
full round tone. The closing stanza marks a transition, but not 
a general contrast. 

I 

Forth from its scabbard, pure and bright, 

Flashed the sword of Lee! 
Far in the front of the deadly fight, 
High o'er the brave in the cause of Right, 
Its stainless sheen, like a beacon light, 

Led us to Victory. 

n 

Out of its scabbard, where, full long, 

It slumbered peacefully, 
Roused from its rest by the battle's song, 
Shielding the feeble, smiting the strong, * 
Guarding the right, avenging the wrong, 

Gleamed the sword of Lee. 



m 

Forth from its scabbard, high in air 
Beneath Virginia's sky — 

348 



The Sword of Robert Lee 349 

And they who saw it gleaming there, 
And knew who bore it, knelt to swear 
That where that sword led they would dare 
To follow — and to die. 



IV 

Out of its scabbard! Never hand 

Waved sword from stain as free, 
Nor purer sword led braver band, 
Nor braver bled for a brighter land, 
Nor brighter land had a cause so grand, 
Nor cause a chief like Lee ! 



Forth from its scabbard ! How we prayed 

That sword might victor be ; 
And when our triumph was delayed, 
And many a heart grew sore afraid, 
We still hoped on while gleamed the blade 

Of noble Robert Lee. 

VI 

Forth from its scabbard all in vain 
Bright flashed the sword of Lee; 

'Tis shrouded now in its sheath again, 

It sleeps the, sleep of our noble slain, 

Defeated, yet without a stain, 
Proudly and peacefully. 



HOW DID YOU DIE? 

/ 

By Edmund Vance Cooke, Author, Lecturer, and Poet. B. 
1866, Canada; now resides in Ohio. 

This poem is full of life and action. Read it with plenty of 
vim and optimism. Read it as one man giving advice and en- 
couragement to another. This is not a plea for immediate 
action, but just some plain wholesome advice. 



Did you tackle the trouble that came your way, 

With a resolute heart and cheerful? 
Or hide your face from the light of day, 

With a craven soul and fearful? 
Oh, a trouble's a ton, or a trouble's an ounce, 

Or a trouble is what you make it ; 
And it isn't the fact that you're hurt that counts, 

But, only, how did you take it? 

n 

You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what's that? 

Come up with a smiling face. 
It's nothing against you to fall down flat, 

But to lie there — that's the disgrace. 
The harder you're thrown, why, the higher you bounce ; 

Be proud of your blackened eye! 
It isn't the fact that you're licked that counts ; 

It's how did you fight — and why? 

in 

And though you be done to the death, what then ? 
If you battled the best you could, 
350 



How Bid You Die? 351 

If you played your part in the world of men, 

Why, the Critic will call it good. 
Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce, 

And whether he's slow or spry, 
It isn't the fact that you're dead that counts, 

But only how did you die? 



THE MOTHERS OF MEN 

By Cincinnatus Heine Miller (Joaquin Miller), Author and 
Poet. B. 1841, Indiana; d. 1913, California. 

The first stanza is intellectual. Bring out clearly the last 
line. The second stanza must be strongly contrasted with the 
third which is deeply reverential. This is also true respecting 
the first two and the last two lines in the fourth stanza. The 
emotional atmosphere of the poem is reverence. 



The bravest battle that ever was fought ! 

Shall I tell you where and when ? 
On the map of the world you will find it not- 

'Twas fought by the mothers of men. 

n 

Nay, not with the cannon or battle shot, 

With the sword or noble pen ; 
Nay, not with eloquent words or thought 

From the mouths of wonderful men! 

m 

But deep in the walled-up woman's heart — 
Of a woman that would not yield, 

But bravely, silently, bore her part — 
Lo, there is that battle field! 

rv 

No marshalling troop, no bivouac song, 
No banner to gleam and wave; 

But, oh, these battles that last so long — • 
From babyhood to the grave. 
352 



The Mothers of Men 353 



Yet faithful still as a bridge of stars, 
The fight in her walled-up town — 

Fights on and on in the endless wars, 
Then silent, unseen, goes down. 



WHEN SPRING DAYS COME 

By John Kendrick Bangs, Author and Poet. B. 1862, New 
York; now resides in Maine. 

This lyric gem expresses an appreciation for the Beautiful. 
It is subjective, and replete with visual and auditory imagery. 
It first appeared in Harper's Weekly, March 22, 1913. 

When Spring days come and I have naught to do, 

I love to rest beneath some spreading tree, 
And gaze aloft into the heavens blue, 
And think of all the wonders sweet and true 

A gracious Father hath prepared for me — 
The earth all fair, upon whose verdant breast 

I lie at rest; 
The freshness of the air ; the songs of birds ; 
The crooning music of the distant herds ; 

The lovely mysteries 

Of budding trees ; 
The dawning beauties of the garden close, 
The violet, the daffodil and rose ; 
The misty hills now greening in the sun; 
The twilight lengthening when day is done. 

These things divine 

All, all are mine, 

Whatever may annoy, 
To see, to use, and fitly to enjoy — 
Wherefore in Spring I love to rest and brood 

On Gratitude ! 



354 



UP-HILL 

By Christina Georgina Rossetti, Poet. B. 1830, London, 
England; d. 1894, England. 

In her private life, the writer experienced many ups and 
downs. This dialogue is a page from her own history. 

Use two voices. The first is that of the traveler, anxious and 
weary. The answering voice is calm, firm, assuring, and of a 
deeper melody. 

I 

Does the road wind up-hill all the way? 

"Yes, to the very end." 
Will the journey take the whole long day? 

"Prom morn to night, my friend." 

n 

But, is there for night a resting-place? 

"A roof when the dark hours begin." 
May not darkness hide it from my face? 

"You cannot miss that Inn." 

m 

Shall I meet other wayfarers at night? 

"Those who have gone before." 
Must I knock, or call when just in sight? 

"They wait you at the door." 

IV 

Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak? 

"Of rest you shall find the sum." 
Will there be beds for all who seek? 

"Yea, beds for all who come." 
355 



L'ENVOI 

By Rudyard Kipling, Poet and Author. B. 1864, India; now 
living in England. 

This metaphorical poem presents no difficulties vocally. Use 
a conversational style with plenty of animation and enthusiasm. 
The author has evidently felt the weight of unjust criticism of 
his art while writing for money, and longs for the time when 
only the Master shall judge his efforts. 



When earth's last picture is painted, and the tubes are 

twisted and dried, 
When the oldest colours have faded, and the youngest critic 

has died, 
We shall rest, and, faith, we shall need it — lie down for an 

ason or two, 
Till the Master of all Good Workmen shall set us to work 

anew! 



And those that were good shall be happy; they shall sit in 

a golden chair; 
They shall splash at a ten-league canvas with brushes of 

comets' hair; 
They shall find real saints to draw from — Magdalene, Peter, 

and Paul ; 
They shall work for an age at a sitting and never be tired 

at all! 

m 

And only the Master shall praise us, and only the Master 
shall blame; 

356 



L'Envoi 357 

And no one shall work for money, and no one shall work 
for fame; 

But each for the joy of the working, and each, in his sep- 
arate star, 

Shall draw the Thing as he sees it for the God of Things as 
they are. 



THE LAST LEAF 

By Oliver Wendell Holmes, Author and Poet. B. 1809, Mass- 
achusetts; d. 1894, Massachusetts. 

The repassing of an old Revolutionary War veteran (Major 
Thomas Melville) by his home one day, suggested to Mr. Holmes 
this poem. He is supposed to have been of the party who threw 
the tea overboard in the Boston Harbor. The smile with which 
Mr. Holmes greeted this veteran meant no disrespect; but his 
cocked hat, knee breeches and buckled shoes did appear some- 
what out of style. This selection was a great favorite with 
Abraham Lincoln. 

Contrast the second and third stanzas, also the fifth and 
sixth. In the third stanza, do not stress "seems," as there is no 
doubt implied. A touch of humor creeps into the last three 
stanzas; a smile of compassion, but not of ridicule. 



I saw him once before 
As he passed by the door, 

And again 
The pavement stones resound, 
As he totters o'er the ground 

With his cane. 



n 

They say that in his prime, 
Ere the pruning-knife of time 

Cut him down, 
Not a better man was found 
By the Crier on his round 

Through the town. 
358 



The Last Leaf 359 

in 

But now he walks the streets, 
And he looks at all he meets, 

Sad and wan, 
And he shakes his feeble head, 
That it seems as if he said 

"They are gone!" 



IV 



The mossy marbles rest 
On the lips that he has prest 

In their bloom, 
And the names he loved to hear 
Have been carved for many a year 

On the tomb. 



My grandmamma has said — 
Poor old lady, she is dead 

Long ago, — 
That he had a Roman nose, 
And his cheek was like a rose 

In the snow. 



VI 



But now his nose is thin, 
And it rests upon his chin 

Like a staff, 
And a crook is in his back, 
And a melancholy crack 

In his laugh. 



360 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

vn 

I know it is a sin 

For me to sit and grin 

At him here. 
But the old three-cornered hat 
And the breeches, and all that 

Are so queer! 

VIII 

And if I should live to be 
The last leaf upon the tree 

In the spring, 
Let them smile as I do now 
At the old forsaken bough 

Where I cling. 



THE HEIGHT OF THE RIDICULOUS 

By Oliver Wendell Holmes/ Author and Poet. B. 1809, Mass- 
achusetts; d. 1894, Massachusetts. 

This is one of his early poems, published in 1836. It is a 
narrative, of the intellectual type, and has a droll humor. We 
are pleased to state that it has no historical background. 

The fifth, sixth and seventh stanzas must be read climacti- 
cally. The last stanza must be read very soberly, with an af- 
fected grief — this gives to it a more profound sense of humor, 
and will make it appear all the more "ridiculous." 



I wrote some lines once on a time 

In wondrous merry mood, 
And thought, as usual, men would say 

They were exceeding good. 



They were so queer, so very queer, 
I laugh'd as I would die; 

Albeit, in a general way, 
A sober man am I. 

m 

I call'd my servant, and he came: 
How kind it was of him, 

To mind a slender man like me, 
He of the mighty limb! 

IV 

"These to the printer," I exclaim'd, 
And, in my humorous way, 
361 



362 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

I added (as a trifling jest), 
"There'll be the devil to pay." 



He took the paper, and I watch'd, 

And saw him peep within: 
At the first line he read, his face 

Was all upon the grin. 

VI 

He read the next ; the grin grew broad, 

And shot from ear to ear; 
He read the third; a chuckling noise 

I now began to hear. 

vn 

The fourth; he broke into a roar; 

The fifth, his waistband split; 
The sixth, he burst five buttons off, 

And tumbled in a fit. 

vm 

Ten days and nights, with sleepless eye, 
I watch'd that wretched man, 

And since, I never dare to write 
As funny as I can. 



FOR A' THAT AND A' THAT 

By Robert Burns, Poet. B. 1759, Scotland; d. 1796, Scot- 
land. 

It is said that Bobby Burns one evening was invited to enter- 
tain the guests of a wealthy lord, with his poems and songs. 
When he came to the Mansion he was requested to go to the 
kitchen for something to eat, as he was not considered worthy 
to feast with the lord and his distinguished guests. While in 
the kitchen nursing his indignation at his treatment, he wrote 
this famous poem. When he was finally called upon to enter- 
tain the guests he sang the song he had just written. 

In January, 1795, Burns in a letter to Mr. George Thomson 
of Edinburgh, wrote him as follows : "I do not give you this 
song for your book, but merely by way of vive la bagatelle; for 
the piece is really not poetry, but will be allowed to be two or 
three pretty good prose thoughts inverted into rhyme." 

Throughout the selection there is an under current of re- 
sentment, of indignation, of scorn. Bring out clearly and force- 
fully the contrasted passages which express the scorn for the 
rich and the admiration for the poor. 

In reading, retain the Scotch accent as much as possible. 
Be sure to understand the meaning of each sentence. The 
following glossary of Scotch words and their English equiva- 
lents may assist : Wha for who, a' for all, gowd for gold, hamely 
for homely, hodden gray for homespun, undyed woolen cloth, 
gie for give, sae for so, birkie for clever fellow, ca'd for called, 
coof for blockhead, mak for make, aboon for above, guid for 
good, maunna for must not, warld for world, fa* for afford, bear 
the gree for be the victors. 



Is there, for honest poverty, 

That hangs his head, and a' that? 

The coward slave, we pass him by, 
We dare be poor for a' that! 
363 



364 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

For a' that, and a' that, 

Our toils obscure, and a' that; 

The rank is but the guinea-stamp, 
The man's the gowd for a' that. 

n 

What though on namely fare we dine, 

Wear hodden gray and a' that; 
Gie fools their silks, and knaves their wine, 

A man's a man, for a' that ! 
For a' that, and a' that, 

Their tinsel show, and a' that; 
The honest man, though e'er sae poor, 

Is king o' men for a' that! 

m 

Ye see yon birkie, ca'd a lord, 

Wha struts, and stares, and a' that; 
Though hundreds worship at his word, 

He's but a coof for a' that: 
For a' that, and a' that, 

His riband, star, and a' that; 
The man of independent mind, 

He looks and laughs at a' that! 

IV 

A king can mak a belted knight, 

A marquis, duke, and a' that; 
But an honest man's aboon his might, 

Guid faith he maunna fa' that! 
For a' that, and a' that, 

Their dignities, and a' that, 
The pith o' sense, and pride o' worth, 

Are higher rank than a' that. 



For A* that and A 9 that 365 



Then let us pray that come it may — 

As come it will for a' that — 
That sense and worth, o'er a' the earth 

May bear the gree, and a' that; 
For a' that, and a' that, 

It's coming yet for a' that. 
That man to man, the warld o'er, 

Shall brothers be for a' that. 



JIM BLUDSO 

By Hon. John Hay, Statesman, Author, and Poet. B. 1838, 
Indiana; d. 1905, New Hampshire. 

This poem was first published May 13, 1871, in Every Sat- 
urday of Boston. The same year it was reprinted with a num- 
ber of other poems by Mr. Hay in a pamphlet called "Pike 
County Ballads." 

Imagine an old river pilot seated in a chair surrounded by 
a few interested companions. Retain the local-color and the 
colloquial dialect, a sort of swaggering, boastful "drawl," of the 
boatman. The movement is slow — though at times the old pilot 
becomes very animated, carried away by his own enthusiasm, 
especially in the fifth and sixth stanzas. 



Wall, no ! I can't tell whar he lives, 

Because he don't live, you see; 
Leastways, he's got out of the habit 

Of livin' like you and me. 
Whar have you been for the last three year 

That you haven't heard folks tell 
How Jimmy Bludso passed in his checks 

The night of the Prairie Belle? 



He weren't no saint, — them engineers 

Is all pretty much alike, — 
One wife in Natchez-under-the-Hill 

And another one here, in Pike; 
A keerless man in his talk was Jim, 

And an awkward hand in a row, 
But he never flunked, and he never lied,- 

I reckon he never knowed how. 
366 



Jim Bludso 367 

m 

And this was all the religion he had, — 

To treat his engine well; 
Never be passed on the river; 

To mind the pilot's bell; 
And if ever the Prairie Belle took fire, — 

A thousand times he swore, 
He'd hold her nozzle agin the bank 

Till the last soul got ashore. 

* IV 

All boats has their day on the Mississip, 

And her day come at last, — 
The Movastar was a better boat, 

But the Belle she wouldn't be passed. 
And so she came stearin' along that night, 

The oldest craft on the line, 
With the nigger squat on her safety-valve, 

And her furnace crammed, rosin and pine. 



The fire bust out as she clared the bar, 

And burnt a hole in the night, 
And quick as a flash she turned, and made 

For that wilier-bank on the right, 
There was runnin' and cursin', but Jim yelled out 

Over all the infernal roar, 
"I'll hold her nozzle agin the bank 

Till the last galoot's ashore." 

VI 

Thro' the hot, black breath of the burnin' boat 

Jim Bludso's voice was heard, 
And they all had trust in his cussedness, 

And know'd he would keep his word. 



Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

And sure's you're born, they all got off 

Afore the smoke-stacks fell. 
And Bludso's ghost went up alone 

In the smoke of the "Prairie Belle." 



vn 

He warn't no saint- — but at jedgment 

I'd run my chance with Jim 
'Longside of some pious gentlemen 

That wouldn't shook hands with him. 
He seen his duty, a dead sure thing, — 

And went for it thar and then; 
And Christ ain't a-going to be too hard 

On a man who died for men. 



WHEN DE CO'N PONE'S HOT 

By Paul Laurence Dunbar, Poet. B. 1872, Ohio; d. 1906, 
Ohio. 

This poem should be read with the characteristic dialect of 
the negro, and with a real appreciation of the old-fashioned 
co'n pone made by a Southern mammy. 



Dey is times in life when nature 

Seems to slip a cog an' go, 
Jes' a-rattlin' down creation, 

Lak an ocean's overflow; 
When de worl' jes' stahts a-spinnin' 

Lak a picaninny's top, 
An' yo' cup o' joy is brimmin' 

'Twell it seems about to slop, 
An' you feel jes' lak a racah, 

Dat is trainin' fu' to trot — 
When yo' mammy says de blessin' 

An' de co'n pone's hot. 



When you sit down at de table, 

Kin' o' weary lak an' sad, 
An you'se jes' a little tiahed 

An' purhaps a little mad; 
How yo' gloom tu'ns into gladness, 

How yo' joy drives out de doubt 
When de oven do' is opened, 

An' de smell comes po'in' out; 
Why, de 'lectric light o' Heaven 
369 



370 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Seems to settle on de spot, 
When yo' mammy says de blessin' 
An' de co'n pone's hot. 



in 

When de cabbage pot is steamin' 

An' de bacon good an' fat, 
When de chittlins is a-sputter'n' 

So's to show you whah dey's at; 
Tek away yo' sody biscuit, 

Tek away yo' cake an' pie, 
Fu' de glory time is comin', 

An' it's 'proachin' mighty nigh, 
An' you want to jump an' hollah, 

Dough you know you'd bettah not, 
When yo' mammy says de blessin' 

An' de co'n pone's hot. 

IV 

y 
I have hyeahd o' lots o' sermons, 

An' I've hyeahd o' lots o' prayers, 
An' I've listened to some singin' 

Dat has tuck me up de stairs 
Of de Glory-Lan' an' set me 

Jes' below de Mastah's th'one, 
An' have lef my hea't a-singin' 

In a happy aftah tone ; 
But dem wu'ds so sweetly murmured 

Seem to tech de softes' spot, 
When my mammy says de blessin' 

An' de co'n pone's hot. 



LEEDLE DUTCH BABY 

By James Whitcomb Riley, Poet and Public Reader. B. 1849, 
Indiana; d. 1916. 

This selection represents Dutch dialect and should be im- 
personated when read. 



Leedle Dutch baby haff come ter town! 
Jabber und jump till der day gone down — 
Jabber und sphlutter und sphlit hees jaws — 
Vot a Dutch baby dees Londsmon vas ! 
I dink dose mout' vas leedle too vide 
Ober he laugh fon dot altso-side ! 
Haff got blenty off deemple und vrown? — 
Hey ! leedle Dutchman come ter town ! 

n 

Leedle Dutch baby, I dink me proud 
Ober your fader can schquall dot loud 
Ven he vas leedle Dutch baby like you 
Und yoost don't gare, like he alvays do ! — 
Guess ven dey vean him on beer, you bet 
Dot's der because dot he aind veaned yet ! — 
Vot you said off he dringk you down? — 
Hey ! leedle Dutchman come ter town ! 

in 

Leedle Dutch baby, yoost schquall away — 
Schquall fon preskfast till yisterday! 
Better you all time gry und shout 
Dan shmile me vonce fon der coffin out ! 
371 



372 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Vot I gare off you keek my nose 
Downside-up, mit your heels und toes — 
Downside-up oder oopside-down? — 
Hey! leedle Dutchman come ter town! 



THE LOW-BACKED CAR 

By Samuel Lover, Novelist, Artist, Musician and Poet. B. 
1797, Ireland; d. 1868, Island of Jersey. 

This familiar love-ballad should be read with the characteris- 
tic Irish brogue. 

I 

When first I saw sweet Peggy, 

'Twas on a market day: 
A low-backed car she drove, and sat 

Upon a truss of hay; 
But when that hay was blooming grass, 

And decked with flowers of spring, 
No flower was there that could compare 

With the blooming girl I sing. 
As she sat in the low-backed car, 
The man at the turnpike bar 
Never asked for the toll, 
But just rubbed his owld poll, 
And looked after the low-backed car. 



In battle's wild commotion, 

The proud and mighty Mars 
With hostile scythes demands his tithes 

Of death in warlike cars; 
While Peggy, peaceful goddess, 

Has darts in her bright eye, 
That knock men down in the market town 

As right and left they fly; 
While she sits in her low-backed car, 
373 



374 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

Than battle more dangerous far, — 
For the doctor's art 
Cannot cure the heart, 

That is hit from that low-backed car. 



m 

Sweet Peggy round her car, sir, 

Has strings of ducks and geese, 
But the scores of hearts she slaughters 

By far outnumber these ; 
While she among her poultry sits, 

Just like a turtle-dove, 
Well worth the cage, I do engage, 

Of the blooming god of love; 
While she sits in her low-backed car, 
The lovers come near and far, 
And envy the chicken 
That Peggy is pickin' 
As she sits in her low-backed car. 

IV 

Oh, I'd rather own that car, sir, 

With Peggy by my side, 
Than a coach and four, and gold galore, 

And a lady for my bride; 
For the lady would sit forninst me, 

On a cushion made with taste, 
While Peggy would sit beside me, 

With my arm around her waist, 
While we drove in the low-backed car 
To be married by Father Maher; 
Oh, my heart would beat high 
At her glance and her sigh, 
Though it beat in a low-backed car, 



THE COUNTRYMAN AND THE LAWYER 



A lawyer in the Common Pleas, 
Who was esteemed a mighty wit, 
Upon the strength of a chance hit 
Amid a thousand flippancies, 
And his occasional bad jokes 

In bullying, bantering, browbeating, 
Ridiculing, and maltreating 
Women or other timid folks, — 
In a late cause resolved to hoax 
A clownish Yorkshire farmer, — one 
Who, by his uncouth look and gait, 
Appeared expressly meant by Fate 
To be quizzed and played upon. 



So, having tipped the wink to those 

In the back rows, 
Who kept their laughter bottled down 

Until our wag should draw the cork, 
He smiled jocosely on the clown, 

And went to work. 

m 

"Well, Farmer Numskull, how go calves at York?" 
"Why — not, sir, as they do wi' you, 
But on four legs instead of two." 

"Officer !" cried the legal elf, 

Piqued at the laugh against himself, 
375 



376 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

"Do, pray, keep silence down below there. 
Now look at me, clown, and attend: 
Have I not seen you somewhere, friend?" 

"Ye-es — very like ; I often go there." 

rv 

"Our rustic's waggish — quite laconic," 
The lawyer cried, with grin sardonic: 
"I wish I'd known this prodigy, 
This genius of the clods, when I, 

On circuit, was at York residing. 
Now, Farmer, do for once speak true: 
Mind, you're on oath; so tell me, — you 
Who doubtless think yourself so clever, — 
Are there as many fools as ever 

In the West Riding?" 
"Why, no, sir, no: we've got our share, 
But not so many as when you were there." 



'S'MATTER? 



BY CARL G. EAHT 



I'm feelin' sorta blue to-night, 

Jes' seems like tricks ain't goin' right; 

Yet, so f r as I can see, 

Not a goldarn thing has happened t' me. 

The "blues" they air a peculiar thing, 
Jes' ups of a suddn't and busts in the ring 
Like a bull in th' china-shop, 
An' knocks fr'm 'neath ye every prop. 

But jes' th' same, I'll rock along, 

An' purty soon again a song 

Will spring to my lips — you see 

Not a goldarn thing has happened t' me. 



377 



EVENING BELLS 



BY TOM MOORE 



John B. Goff, the great orator, said: "Practice 'bell tones'; 
they will give the voice clearness, vibration, music, and power." 

Pronounce "Toll," making the "T" hard and "o" deep and 
prolong the "1." When we give a bell stroke, there is a long, 
diminishing vibration. This sound can be made on "1, m, n, r." 
The "bell tones" must be heard throughout the entire poem. 



Those evening bells ! Those evening bells ! 
How many a tale their music tells 
Of youth and home, and that sweet time, 
When first I heard their pleasing chime ! 

II 

Those happy hours have passed away, 
And many a heart that then was gay 
Within the tomb now darkly dwells, 
And hears no more those evening bells. 

in 

And so 'twill be when I am gone, 
That tuneful peal will still ring on! 
While other bards will walk these dells 
And sing your praise, sweet evening bells. 



378 



A FANCY FROM FONTENELLE 

BY AUSTIN DOBSON 

I 

The Rose in the garden slipped her bud, 
And she laughed in the pride of her youthful blood, 
As she thought of the Gardener standing by — 
"He is old — so old! And he soon must die!" 



The full Rose waxed in the warm June air, 
As she spread and spread till her heart lay bare; 
And she laughed once more as she heard his tread — 
"He is older now! He will soon be dead!" 

in 

But the breeze of the morning blew, and found 
That' the leaves of the blown Rose strewed the ground; 
And he came at noon, that Gardener old, 
And he raked them gently under the mould. 

IV 

And I wove the thing to a random rhyme: 
For the Rose is Beauty; the Gardener, Time. 



379 



THE LOST CHORD 



BY ADELAIDE A. PROCTER 



Seated one day at the organ, 
I was weary and ill at ease, 

And my fingers wandered idly 
Over the noisy keys. 



ii 



I do not know what I was playing, 
Or what I was dreaming then; 

But I struck one chord of music, 
Like the sound of a great Amen. 



in 



It flooded the crimson twilight, 
Like the close of an angel's psalm, 

And it lay on my fevered spirit 
With a touch of infinite calm. 



IV 



It quieted pain and sorrow, 
Like love overcoming strife; 

It seemed the harmonious echo 
From our discordant life. 
380 



The Lost Chord 381 



It linked all perplexed meanings 

Into one perfect peace, 
And trembled away into silence 

As if it were loath to cease. 

VI 

I have sought, but I seek it vainly, 
That one lost chord divine, 

That came from the soul of the organ 
And entered into mine. 

VII 

It may be that Death's bright angel 
Will speak in that chord again; 

It may be that only in heaven 
I shall hear that grand Amen. 



THE RAINY BAY 

BY HENRY W. LONGFELLOW 



The day is cold, and dark, and dreary; 
It rains, and the wind is never weary; 
The vine still clings to the mouldering wall, 
But at every gust the dead leaves fall, 
And the day is dark and dreary. 

H 

My life is cold, and dark, and dreary ; 
It rains, and the wind is never weary; 
My thoughts still cling to the mouldering Past, 
But the hopes of youth fall thick in the blast, 
And the days are dark and dreary. 

in 

Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; 
Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; 
Thy fate is the common fate of all, 
Into each life some rain must fall, 
Some days must be dark and dreary. 



382 



A BALLAD OF THE TREES AND THE MASTER 



BY SIDNEY LANIER 



Into the woods my Master went, 

Clean forspent, forspent, 

Into the woods my Master came, 

Forspent with love and shame. 

But the olives they were not blind to Him 

The little gray leaves were kind to Him 

The thorn tree had a mind to Him 

When into the woods He came. 

n 

Out of the woods my Master went, 

And He was well content. 

Out of the woods my Master came 

Content with death and shame. 

When Death and Shame would woo Him last, 

From under the trees they drew Him last ; 

'Twas on a tree they slew Him last 

When out of the woods He came. 



383 



GOD GIVE US MEN 



BY JOSEPH GILBEET HOLLAND 



God give us men! A time like this demands 

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands; 

Men whom the lust of office does not kill ; 

Men whom the spoils of office cannot buy; 
Men who possess opinions and a will; 

Men who have honor; men who will not lie; 
Men who can stand before a demagogue 

And damn his treacherous flatteries without winking; 
Tall men, sun crowned, who live above the fog 

In public duty and in private thinking; 
For while the rabble with their thumb- worn creeds, 
Their large profession and their little deeds 
Mingle in selfish strife, lo! Freedom weeps, 
Wrong rules the land, and waiting Justice sleeps. 



384 



LUCY 

BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH 
I 

She dwelt among the untrodden ways 

Beside the springs of Dove, 
A maid whom there were none to praise 

And very few to love. 

n 

A violet by a mossy stone 

Half hidden from the eye ; 
Fair as a star when only one 

Is shining in the sky. 

m 

She lived unknown, and few could know 

When Lucy ceased to be; 
But she is in her grave, and, oh, 

The difference to me! 



385 



EACH IN HIS OWN TONGUE 

BY WILLIAM HERBERT CARRUTI1 



A fire mist and a planet, 

A crystal and a cell, 
A jellyfish and a saurian 

And a cave where the cavemen dwell ; 
Then a sense of law and beauty, 

A face turned from the clod — 
Some call it Evolution 

And others call it God. 

n 

A haze in the far horizon, 

The infinite, tender sky, 
The ripe, rich tint of the cornfields, 

And the wild geese sailing high — 
And all over upland and lowland 

The sign of the goldenrod — 
Some of us call it Autumn 

And others call it God. 

m 

Like tides on a crescent sea beach 
When the moon is new and thin, 

Into our hearts high yearnings 
Come welling and surging in — 

Come from the mystic ocean, 



Each in His Own Tongue 387 

Whose rim no foot has trod — 
Some of us call it Longing 
And others call it God. 



IV 

A picket frozen on duty, 

A mother starved for her brood, 
Socrates drinking the hemlock, 

And Jesus on the rood; 
And millions, who humble and nameless. 

The straight hard pathway trod — 
Some call it Consecration 

And others call it God. 



THE OLD FEATHER BED 



BY W. W. PFRIMMER 



I am weary to-night and fain would I creep 

Up into the loft, where I once used to sleep, 

And leave, as I climbed up the old creaking stair, 

At its foot all my burden of worry and care; 

And turn down the blankets and old-fashioned spread, 

And hide from the world in the old feather bed. 



n 

Oh, the old feather bed ! how its folds seemed to press 

'Round my play-wearied body in warmest caress, 

And I drifted away on its billows in dreams 

Of a rose-tinted future. Alas, now it seems 

That the pain in my heart and the ache in my head 

Would be soothed, could I rest on the old feather bed. 



in 

I have tried the wide world, I have tasted its cheer, 
And much have I found that is precious and dear; 
But much that was priceless is faded and gone, 
And folly too often has beckoned me on, 
And I long to go back through the years that have fled 
And forget for one night on the old feather bed. 

388 



The Old Feather Bed 389 



IV 



How I wish I could strip by the old fire-place, 
And stand, as I used to, and warm for a space, 
Then muster up courage and plunge up the stair 
In the gloom of the night and the frost-ladened air, 
And turn down the covers 'mid shivers and dread, 
And dive to the depths of the old feather bed. 



But I would not go back unless I could know 

I would hear on the stairs, a step labored and slow, 

And see a bent form, as beside me she stands, 

And feel the soft touch of her gentle old hands, 

As she smooths down the pillow about my young head 

And tucks me in snug in the old feather bed. 



LIFE'S MIRROR 

BY MADELINE S. BRIDGES 

I 

There are loyal hearts; there are spirits brave, 
There are souls that are pure and true; 

Then give to the world the best you have 
And the best will come back to you. 

n 

Give love, and love to your life will flow, 
A strength in your utmost need; 

Have faith, and a score of hearts will show 
Their faith in your word and deed. 

m 

Give truth, and your gift will be found in kind, 

And honor will honor meet; 
And a smile that is sweet will surely find 

A smile that is just as sweet. 

IV 

For life is the mirror of King and slave ; 

'Tis just what we are and do; 
Then give to the world the best you have, 

And the best will come back to you. 



390 



LIFE 



BY ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD 



Life! I know not what thou art, 
But know that thou and I must part; 
But when, or how, or where we met 
I own to me's a secret yet. 
But this I know when thou are fled, 
Wher'er they lay these limbs, this head, 
No clod so valueless shall be, 
As all that then remains of me. 
O, whither, whither does thou fly, 
Where bend unseen thy trackless course, 

And in this strange divorce, 
Ah, tell where I must seek this compound I ! 



n 



To the vast ocean of empyreal flame, 
From whence thy essence came, 
Dost thou thy flight pursue, when freed 
From matter's base encumbering weed? 
Or dost thou, hid from sight, 
Wait, like some spell-bound knight, 
Through blank, oblivious years ' the appointed hour 
To break thy trance and reassure thy power? 
Yet canst thou, without thought or feeling be? 
O, say what art thou, when no more thou'rt thee? 

391 



392 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

ni 

Life! we've been long together 
Through pleasant and through cloudy weather ; 
'Tis hard to part when friends are dear, — 
Perhaps 'twill cost a sigh, a tear: 
Then steal away, give little warning, 
Choose thine own time: 
Say not Good Night, — rbut in some brighter clime 
Bid me Good Morning. 



A FEW SHAKESPEAREAN GEMS 

By William Shakespeare, Poet, Dramatist and Actor. B. 
1564, England; d. 1616, England. 

The reading of these selections should not be attempted with- 
out a knowledge of their position in the play. 



(Hamlet, Act III, Scene 1) 

To be, or not to be, that is the question: — 
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind, to suffer 
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, 
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles, 
And, by opposing, end them. To die — to sleep 
No more ; and, by a sleep, to say we end 
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks 
• That flesh is heir to, — 'tis a consummation 
Devoutly to be wished. To die — to sleep; 
To sleep ! perchance to dream ; ay, there's the rub ; 
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, 
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil, 
Must give us pause. There's the respect, 
That makes calamity of so long life; 
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely, 
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay, 
The insolence of office, and the spurns 
That patient merit of the unworthy takes, 
When he himself might his quietus make 
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear, 
To grunt and sweat under a weary life, 
But that the dread of something after death — 

393 



394 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

The undiscovered country, from whose bourn 

No traveller returns — puzzles the will, 

And makes us rather bear those ills we have, 

Than fly to others that we know not of! 

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; 

And thus the native hue of resolution 

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought; 

And enterprises of great pith and moment, 

With this regard, their currents turn awry, 

And lose the name of action. 



(Hainlet, Act I, Scene 2) 

Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt, 

Thaw, and resolve itself into a dew! 

Or that the Everlasting had not fixed 

His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! God! O God! 

How weary, stale, flat, and unprofitable, 

Seem to me all the uses of this world! 

Fie on't! O fie! 'Tis an unweeded garden, 

That grows to seed; things rank and gross in nature, 

Possess it merely. That it should come to this ! 

But two months dead! — nay, not so much, not two — 

So excellent a king; that was, to this, 

Hyperion to a satyr; so loving to my mother, 

That he might not beteem the winds of heaven 

Visit her face too roughly. Heaven and earth! 

Must I remember? Why, she would hang on him, 

As if increase of appetite had grown 

By what it fed on — and yet, within a month — 

Let me not think on't ; — Frailty, thy name is woman ! — 

A little month, or ere those shoes were old, 

With which she followed my poor father's body, 

Like Niobe, all tears; — 

She married with my uncle, 



A Few Shakespearean Gems 395 

My father's brother; but no more like my father 

Than I to Hercules. 

It is not, nor it cannot come to, good; — 

But break my heart: for I must hold my tongue. 



POLONIUS S ADVICE TO HIS SON 

{Hamlet, Act I, Scene 3) 

There; my blessing with thee! 
And these few precepts in thy memory: 
Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, 
Nor any unproportion'd thought his act. 
Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. 
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, 
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel, 
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment 
Of each new-hatch'd unfledged comrade. Beware 
Of entrance to a quarrel; but being in, 
Bear 't, that the opposed may beware of thee. 
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice; 
Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. 
Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, 
But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy: 
For the apparel oft proclaims the man; 
And they in France of the best rank and station 
Are of a most select and generous chief in that. 
Neither a borrower nor a lender be: . 

For loan oft loses both itself and friend, 
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. 
This above all: to thine own self be true, 
And it must follow, as the night the day, 
Thou canst not then be false to any man. 
Farewell: my blessing season this in thee! 



396 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

SEVEN AGES OF MAN 

(As You Like It, Act II, Scene 7) 

Jacques. All the world's a stage, 
And all the men and women merely players: 
They have their exits and their entrances; 
And one man in his time plays many parts, 
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, 
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms ; 
And then, the whining school-boy, with his satchel, 
And shining morning face, creeping like snail 
Unwillingly to school; And then, the lover; 
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad 
Made to his mistress' eye-brow: Then, a soldier; 
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like a pard, 
Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, 
Seeking the bubble reputation 
Even in the cannon's mouth: And then, the justice, 

In fair round belly, with good capon lined, 
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut. 
Full of wise saws and modern instances, 
And so he plays his part: The sixth age shifts 
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon; 
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side; 
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide 
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, 
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes 
And whistles in his sound: Last scene of all, 
That ends this strange eventful history, 
Is second childishness, and mere oblivion; 
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything. 

WOLSEY'S ADVICE TO CROMWELL 

(King Henry VIII, Act III, Scene 2) 

Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear 
In all my miseries; but thou hast forc'd me, 



A Few Shakespearean Gems 397 

Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman. 

Let's dry our eyes: and thus far hear me, Cromwell; 

And, when I am forgotten, as I shall be, 

And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention 

Of me more must be heard of, say, I taught thee, 

Say, Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory, 

And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour, 

Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in; 

A sure and safe one, though thy master miss'd it. 

Mark but my fall, and that that ruined me. 

Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition: 

By that sin fell the angels ; how can man, then, 

The image of his Maker, hope to win by it? 

Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate thee; 

Corruption wins not more than honesty. 

Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, 

To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not: 

Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's, 

Thy God's, and truth's ; then, if thou fall'st, O Cromwell, 

Thou fall'st a blessed martyr! Serve the king; 

And, — prithee, lead me in: 

There take an inventory of all I have, 

To the last penny ; 'tis the king's : my robe, 

And my integrity to heaven, is all 

I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell! 

Had I but served my God with half the zeal 

I served my king, he would not in mine age 

Have left me naked to mine enemies. 

KING HENRY TO HIS SOLDIERS 

{King Henry V, Act III, Scene I) 

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more, 
Or close the wall up with our English dead! 
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man 
As modest stillness and humility; 



398 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

But when the blast of war blows in our ears, 
Then imitate the action of the tiger; 
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, 
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage; 
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect; 
Let it pry through the portage of the head 
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it 
As fearfully as doth a galled rock 
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base, 
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean. 
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide, 
Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit 
To his full height. On, on, you noble English, 
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war proof, 
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders, 
Have in these parts from morn till even fought, 
And sheath'd their swords for lack of argument! 

MERCY 

(The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene 1) 

The quality of mercy is not strain'd, 
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven 
Upon the place beneath: It is twice blest; 
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes: 
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes 
The throned monarch better than his crown; 
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, 
The attribute to awe and majesty, 
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; 
But mercy is above this sceptred sway; 
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 
It is an attribute to God himself; 
And earthly power doth then show likest God's, 
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, 
Though justice be thy plea, consider this, 



A Few Shakespearean Gems 390 

That, in the course of justice, none of us 
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; 
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 
The deeds of mercy. 

BRUTUS's QUARREL WITH CASSIUS 

{Julius Cazsar, Act IV, Scene 3) 

Cas. Do not presume too much upon my love; 
I may do that I shall be sorry for. 

Bru. You have done that you should be sorry for. 
There is no terror, Cassius, in your threats, 
For I am arm'd so strong in honesty, 
That they pass by me as the idle wind, 
Which I respect not. I did send to you 
For certain sums of gold, which you denied me: 
By heaven, I had rather coin my heart, 
And drop my blood for drachmas, than to wring 
From the hard hands of peasants their vile trash, 
By any indirection: I did send 
To you for gold to pay my legions, 
Which you denied me: was that done like Cassius? 
Should I have answered Caius Cassius so? 
When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous, 
To lock such rascal counters from his friends, 
Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts; 
Dash him to pieces ! 



RECOMPENSE 



BY M. E. NEI/LA 



If I could write just one 
Short poem that would meet 
The need of some poor outcast, 
Who lives upon the street; 
One song he would remember, 
To give a word of cheer, 
It would be recompense enough, 
Could I but know — while hero. 



400 



ESSAY— DESCRIPTIVE 
THE HOME OF VAN TASSEL 

By Washington Irving, Author. B. 1783, New York City; 
d. 1859, New York. 

This vivid bit of description is taken from The Legend of 
Sleepy Hollow found in Irving's Sketch Booh, published in 1819- 
Use a fluent conversational style of delivery. This selection 
permits a limited use of the descriptive gesture, but care should 
be taken not to go into detail. 

1. Old Baltus Van Tassel was a perfect picture of a 
thriving, contented, liberal-hearted farmer. He seldom, it 
is true, sent either his eyes or his thoughts beyond the 
boundaries of his own farm; but within those, everything 
was snug, happy, and well-conditioned. He was satisfied 
with his wealth, but not proud of it; and piqued himself 
upon the hearty abundance, rather than the style in which 
he lived. His stronghold was situated on the banks of the 
Hudson, in one of those green, sheltered, fertile nooks, in 
which the Dutch farmers are so fond of nestling. A great 
elm-tree spread its broad branches over it, at the foot of 
which bubbled up a spring of the softest and sweetest water, 
in a little well formed of a barrel, and then stole sparkling 
away through the grass to a neighbouring brook that bub- 
bled along among alders and dwarf willows. 

&. Hard by the farm-house was a vast barn that might 
have served for a church, every window and crevice of 
which seemed bursting forth with the treasures of the farm ; 
the flail was busily resounding within it from morning to 
night; swallows and martins skimmed twittering about the 
eaves; and rows of pigeons, some with one eye turned up, 

401 



402 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

as if watching the weather, some with their heads under 
their wings, or buried in their bosoms, and others swelling, 
and cooing, and bowing about their dames, were enjoying 
the sunshine on the roof. Sleek unwieldy porkers were 
grunting in the repose and abundance of their pens, whence 
sallied forth now and then troops of sucking pigs, as if 
to snuff the air. A stately squadron of snowy geese were 
riding in an adjoining pond, convoying whole fleets of 
ducks; regiments of turkeys were gobbling through the 
farm-yard, and guinea-fowls fretting about it, like ill-tem- 
pered housewives, with their peevish, discontented cry. Be- 
fore the barn door strutted the gallant cock, that pattern 
of a husband, a warrior, and a fine gentleman, clapping his 
burnished wings, and crowing in the pride and gladness of 
his heart — sometimes tearing up the earth with his feet, 
and then generously calling his ever-hungry family of wives 
and children to enjoy the rich morsel which he had discov- 
ered. 

3. The pedagogue's mouth watered as he looked upon his 
sumptuous promise of luxurious winter fare. In his de- 
vouring mind's-eye he pictured to himself every roasting- 
pig running about with a pudding in his belly, and an apple 
in his mouth; the pigeons were snugly put to bed in a com- 
fortable pie, and tucked in with a coverlet of crust; the 
geese were swimming in their own gravy ; and the ducks pair- 
ing cosily in dishes, like snug married couples, with a de- 
cent competency of onion sauce. In the porkers he saw 
carved out the future sleek side of bacon and juicy relish- 
ing ham ; not a turkey but he beheld daintily trussed-up, 
with its gizzard under its wing, and, peradventure, a neck- 
lace of savoury sausages ; and even bright chanticleer him- 
self lay sprawling on his back in a side dish, with uplifted 
claws, as if craving that quarter which his chivalrous spirit 
disdained to ask while living. 

4. When he entered the house, the conquest of his heart 
was complete. It was one of those spacious farmhouses, 



Essay — Descriptive 403 

with high-ridged, but lowly-sloping roofs, built in the style 
handed down from the first Dutch settlers; the low project- 
ing eaves forming a piazza along the front, capable of 
being closed up in bad weather. Under this were hung 
flails, harness, various utensils of husbandry, and nets for 
fishing in the neighbouring river. Benches were built along 
the sides for summer use; and a great spinning-wheel at 
one end, and a churn at the other, showed the various uses 
to which this important porch might be devoted. From 
this piazza the wondering Ichabod entered the hall, which 
formed the center of the mansion and the place of usual 
residence. Here rows of resplendent pewter, ranged on a 
long dresser, dazzled his eyes. In one corner stood a huge 
bag of wool ready to be spun ; in another, a quantity of 
linsey-woolsey just from the loom; ears of Indian corn, and 
strings of dried apples and peaches, hung in gay festoons 
along the wall, mingled with the gaud of red peppers; and 
a door left ajar gave him a peep into the best parlour, where 
the claw-footed chairs and dark mahogany tables shone 
like mirrors ; andirons, with their accompanying shovel and 
tongs, glistened from their covert of asparagus tops ; mock 
oranges and conch-shells decorated the mantel-piece; strings 
of various coloured birds' eggs were suspended above it; a 
great ostrich egg was hung from the centre of the room, 
and a corner-cupboard, knowingly left open, displayed im- 
mense treasures of old silver and well-mended china. 

5. From the moment Ichabod laid his eyes upon these 
regions of delight, the peace of his mind was at an end, and 
his only study was how to gain the affections of the peerless 
daughter of Van Tassel. 



ESSAY— NARRATIVE 
MY ORATORICAL EXPERIENCE 

By Nathaniel Hawthorne, Author. B. 1804, Massachusetts; 
d. 1864, Massachusetts. 

While residing in England (1853-60) Mr. Hawthorne wrote 
the following selection which is an extract from Civic Banquets. 

The Mayor of a certain seaport in England annually invited 
some fifty or sixty distinguished citizens of the town and other 
men of note sojourning there temporarily. It is of one of these 
banquets that Mr. Hawthorne writes. 

Read in an easy, narrative style; use a wide range of pitch; 
and bring out clearly the humor contained in many of the 
passages. 

1. While I was occupied in criticising my fellow-guests, 
the mayor had got up to propose another toast ; and, listen- 
ing rather inattentively to the first sentence or two, I be- 
came sensible of a drift in his worship's remarks that made 
me glance apprehensively toward Sergeant Wilkins. "Yes," 
grumbled that gruff personage, "it is your turn next" ; and 
seeing in my face, I suppose, the consternation of a wholly 
unpracticed orator, he added, "It is nothing. A mere ac- 
knowledgment will answer the purpose. The less you say, 
the better they will like it." 

£. That being the case, I suggested that perhaps they 
would like it best if I said nothing at all. But the sergeant 
shook his head. Now, on first receiving the mayor's invita- 
tion to dinner, it had occurred to me that I might possibly 
be brought into my present predicament, but I had dismissed 
the idea from my mind as too disagreeable to be entertained; 
and, moreover, as so alien from my disposition and char- 
acter, that Fate surely could not keep such a misfortune 

404 



Essay — Narrative 405 

in store for me. 

3. If nothing prevented, an earthquake, or the crack of 
doom, would certainly interfere before I need rise to speak. 
Yet here was the mayor getting on inexorably; and, in- 
deed, I heartily wished that he might get on and on for 
ever, and of his wordy wanderings find no end. If the gentle 
reader, my kindest friend and closest confidant, deigns to 
desire it, I can impart to him my own experience as a public 
speaker quite as indifferently as if it concerned another per- 
son. Indeed, it does concern another, or a mere spectral 
phenomenon; for it was not I, in my proper and natural 
self, that sat there at table, or subsequently rose to speak. 

4. At the moment, then, if the choice had been offered 
to me whether the mayor should let off a speech at my head, 
or a pistol, I should unhesitatingly have taken the latter 
alternative. I had really nothing to say, not an idea in 
my head, nor — which was a good deal worse — any flowing 
words or embroidered sentences in which to dress out that 
empty nothing, and give it a cunning aspect of intelligence, 
such as might last the poor vacuity the little time it had 
to live. 

5. But time passed; the mayor brought his remarks, 
affectionately eulogistic of the United States, and compli- 
mentary to their distinguished representative at that table, 
to a close, amid a vast deal of cheering ; and the band struck 
up "Hail Columbia," I believe — though it might have been 
"Old Hundred," or "God Save the Queen" over again, for 
anything that I should have known or cared. 

6. When the music ceased, there was an intensely dis- 
agreeable instant during which I seemed to rend away and 
fling off the habit of a lifetime, and rose, still void of ideas, 
but with preternatural composure, to make a speech. The 
guests rattled on the table, and cried, "Hear!" most vocif- 
erously; as if now, at length, in this foolish and idly gar- 
rulous world, had come the long-expected moment when one 
golden word was to be spoken; and in that imminent crisis 



406 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

I caught a glimpse of a little bit of effusion of interna- 
tional sentiment which it might, and must, and should do 
to utter. 

7. Well, it was "nothing," as the sergeant had said. 
What surprised me most was the sound of my own voice, 
which I had never before heard at a declamatory pitch, and 
which impressed me as belonging to some other person, who 
— and not myself — would be responsible for the speech: a 
prodigious consolation and encouragement under the cir- 
cumstances ! 

8. I went on without the slightest embarrassment, and 
sat down amid great applause, wholly undeserved by any- 
thing that I had spoken, but well won from Englishmen, me- 
thought, by the new development of pluck that alone had 
enabled me to speak at all. "It was handsomely done I" 
quoth Sergeant Wilkins ; and I felt like a recruit who had 
been for the first time under fire. 

9. I would gladly have ended my oratorical career then 
and there forever ; but was often placed in a similar or worse 
position, and compelled to meet it as I best might; for this 
was one of the necessities of an office which I had volun- 
tarily taken on my shoulders, and beneath which I might be 
crushed by no moral delinquency on my own part, but could 
not shirk without cowardice and shame. My subsequent 
fortune was various, 



ESSAY— NARRATIVE 
PARABLE OF THE TWO SONS 

By St. Luke, Apostle and Author. Biography unknown. 
Luke XIV, 11-32. 

"This parable/' says Dr. S. S. Curry, "is full of dramatic ele- 
ments and reaches the dignity of the sublimest epic. This story 
may be regarded as the noblest work of art in the world. It 
reveals the sublimest truths in the simplest way." 

The movement is slow, the pauses long and frequent, the pitch 
varied. The different characters must be clearly presented, — the 
repentant younger brother, the antagonistic elder brother, the 
loving and forgiving father. Emphasize the words in italics. 
Speak very slowly the last clause in the 16th, and the first clause 
in the 18th, and the 20th paragraphs. Note the rising accent 
at the end of paragraph 21; the son had not completed his con- 
fession when interrupted by the father. Observe the joy and 
the love of the father and his tender rebuke in the 31st and 32nd 
paragraphs. 

11. And he said, A certain man had two sons: 

12. And the younger of them said .to his father, Father, 
give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he 
divided unto them his living. 

13. And not many days after the younger son gathered 
all together, and took his journey into a far country, and 
there wasted his substance with riotous living. 

14. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty 
famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 

15. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that 
country ; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 

16. And he would fain have filled his belly with the 
husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 

17. And when he came to himself, he said, How many 

407 



408 Oral Readvng and Public Speaking 

hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to 
spare, and / perish with hunger! 

18. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto 
him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee. 

19. And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make 
me as one of thy hired servants. 

20. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he 
was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had com- 
passion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 

21. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned 
against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to 
be called thy son. 

22. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the 
best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, 
and shoes on his feet: 

23. And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it ; and let 
us eat, and be merry: 

24. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he 
was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. 

25. Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came 
and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. 

26. And he called one of the servants, and asked what 
these things meant. 

27. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come ; and thy 
father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received 
him safe and sound. 

28. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore 
came his father out, and entreated him. 

29. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many 
years did I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time 
thy commandment ; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that 
I might make merry with my friends : 

30. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath 
devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him 
the fatted calf. 

81. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, 



Essay — Narrative 409 

and all that I have is thine. 

3£. It was meet that we should make merry, and be 
glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and 
was lost and is found. 



ESSAY— NARRATION 
A TEXAN'S ROVINGS 

By Melville D. Landon (Eli Perkins) , Author and Lecturer. 
B. 1839, New York; d. 1910, New York. 

Use an animated, interesting, narrative style, coloring the 
tone with the varying mood. The fourth paragraph should be 
made intensely dramatic. 

1. Col. Albert C. Pelton, whose beautiful twenty- thou- 
sand-acre ranch is out toward the Rio Grande, near La- 
redo, has been the Peter the Hermit of the Texans for years. 
He has believed that he held a divine commission to kill 
Apache Indians. Col. Pelton came to Texas in 1844, a com- 
mon soldier. By talent and courage he rose to the rank 
of colonel, and finally,, in 1847, commanded Fort Macrae. 
That year he fell in love with a beautiful Spanish girl at 
Albuquerque, N. M. Her parents were wealthy, and would 
not consent to their daughter's going away from all her 
friends to live in a garrison. The admiration of the young 
couple was mutual, and parental objections only intensi- 
fied the affection of the lovers. The Spanish girl's nature 
is such that, once in love, she never changes. Finally, after 
two years' entreaty and devotion, Col. Pelton won the con- 
sent of the parents of the beautiful Spanish girl, and they 
were married and removed to Fort Macrae. 

2. Then commenced a honeymoon such as only lovers, 
shut up in a beautiful flower-environed fort, can have. The 
lovely character of the beautiful bride won the hearts of 
all the soldiers of the fort, and she remained a queen among 
these rough frontiersmen. One day, when the love of the 
soldier and his lovely wife was at its height, the two, accom- 

410 



Essay — Narration 411 

panied by the young wife's mother and twenty soldiers, rode 
out to the hot springs, six miles from the fort, to take a 
bath. While in the bath, which is near the Rio Grande, 
an Indian's arrow passed over their heads. Then a shower 
of arrows fell around them, and a band of wild Apache 
Indians rushed down upon them, whooping and yelling like 
a band of demons. Several of the soldiers fell dead, pierced 
with poisoned arrows. This frightened the rest, who fled. 
Another shower of arrows, and the beautiful bride and her 
mother fell in the water, pierced by the cruel weapons of 
the Apaches. With his wife dying before his eyes, Col. 
Pelton leaped up the bank, grasped his rifle, and killed the 
leader of the savage fiends. But the Apaches were too 
much for the colonel. Pierced with two poisoned arrows, 
he swam into the river and hid under an over-hanging rock. 
After the savages had left, the colonel swam the river and 
made his way back to Fort Macrae. Here his wounds were 
dressed, and he finally recovered, but only to live a blasted 
life — without love, without hope; with a vision of his beau- 
tiful wife, pierced with poisoned arrows, dying perpetually 
before his eyes. 

3. After the death of his wife a change came to Col. 
Pelton. He seemed to think that he had a sacred mission 
from heaven to avenge his young wife's death. He secured 
the most unerring rifles, surrounded himself with brave com- 
panions, and consecrated himself to the work of revenge. 
He was always anxious to lead any and all expeditions 
against the Apaches. Whenever any of the other Indians 
were at war with the Apaches, Col. Pelton would soon be 
at the head of the former. One day he would be at the head 
of his soldiers and the next day he would be at the head of 
a band of Mexicans. Nothing gave him pleasure but the 
sight of dead Apaches. He defied the Indian arrows and 
courted death. Once, with a band of the wildest despera- 
does, he penetrated 100 miles into the Apache country. 
The Apaches never dreamed that anything but an entire 



41£ Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

regiment would dare to follow them to their camp in the 
mountains. So when Col. Pelton swooped down into their 
lodges with ten trusty followers, firing their Henry rifles 
at the rate of twenty times a minute, the Apaches fled in 
consternation, leaving their women and children behind. It 
was then that there darted out of a lodge a white woman. 
"Spare the women !" she cried, and fainted to the ground. 

4. When the colonel jumped from his saddle to lift up 
the woman he found she was blind. 

"How came you here, woman, with these damned 
Apaches?" he asked. 

"I was wounded and captured," she said, "ten years ago. 
Take, oh, take me back again!" 

"Have you any relations in Texas?" asked the Colonel. 

"No, my father lives in Albuquerque. My husband, Colo- 
nel Pelton, and my mother were killed by the Indians." 

"Great God, Bella! Is it you — my wife?" 

"Oh, Albert, I knew you would come !" exclaimed the poor 
wife, blindly reaching her hands to clasp her husband. 

5. Of course there was joy in the old ranch when Col. 
Pelton got back with his wife. The Apaches had carried 
the wounded woman away with them. The poison caused 
inflammation, which finally destroyed her eyesight. 

When I saw the colonel in his Texas ranch he was read- 
ing a newspaper to his blind wife, while in her hand she 
held a bouquet of fragrant Cape jessamines which he had 
gathered for her. It was a picture of absolute happiness. 




DANIEL WEBSTER 

From a Portrait 



ESSAY— EXPOSITION 
TRUE ELOQUENCE 

By Daniel Webster, Jurist, Statesman, and Orator. B. 1782, 
New Hampshire; d. 1852, Massachusetts. 

On hearing of the deaths of Adams and of Jefferson on July 
4, 1826, the City Council of Boston set apart August 2, 1826, 
as a day to commemorate appropriately with solemn rites this 
sad event. Webster delivered a discourse in Faneuil Hall on 
"Adams and Jefferson." The following extract was given whjle 
speaking of Mr. Adams. 

The style is "heavy." Downward inflections are numerous, 
the phrases short, the words ponderous and forceful. A strong 
and - voluminous voice is demanded. Remember that true ora- 
tory is a broad subject, and is itself suggestive of mass and 
weight. 

1. When public bodies are to be addressed on momen- 
tous occasions, when great interests are at stake and strong 
passions excited, nothing is valuable in speech, further than 
as it is connected with high intellectual and moral endow- 
ments. Clearness, force, and earnestness are the qualities 
which produce conviction. 

£. True eloquence, indeed, does not consist in speech. 
It cannot be brought from far. Labor and learning may 
toil for it, but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases 
may be marshalled in every way, but they cannot compass 
it. It must exist in the man, in the subject, and in the 
occasion. Affected passion, intense expression, the pomp of 
declamation, all may aspire after it ; they cannot reach it. 
It comes, if it come at all, like the outbreak of a fountain 
from the earth, or the bursting forth of volcanic fires, with 
spontaneous, original, native force. 

3. The graces taught in the schools, the costly orna- 

413 



414 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

ments and studied contrivances of speech, shock and dis- 
gust men, when their own lives, and the fate of their wives, 
their children, and their country hang on the decision of the 
hour. Then words have lost their power, rhetoric ,is vain, 
and all elaborate oratory contemptible. Even genius itself 
then feels rebuked and subdued, as in the presence of higher 
qualities. Then patriotism is eloquent; then self-devotion 
is eloquent. The clear conception outrunning the deductions 
of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless 
spirit, speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, in- 
forming every feature, and urging the whole man onward, 
right onward to his object — this, this is eloquence, or, rather, 
it is something greater and higher than all eloquence ; it 
inaction, noble, sublime, God-like action. 



ESSAY— EXPOSITION 
THE ART OF ELOQUENCE 

By Marcus Tullius Cicero, Statesman and Orator. B. 106 
B.C., Arpinum, Italy; d. 43 B.C., Formica, Italy. 

This extract is taken from the rhetorical writings of Cicero 
entitled "De Oratore." Cicero spent much time and study on 
the art as well as the rhetoric of oratory. He was the greatest 
of Roman orators, and the most polished orator of both ancient 
and modern times. Quintilian aptly states, "Cicero is now less 
the name of a man than of eloquence itself." 

This selection, being didactic, requires the intellectual type of 
voice. Guard against too frequent pauses, as the sentences are 
long and well rounded out. Read with interest and animation. 

1. The art of eloquence is something greater, and col- 
lected from more sciences and studies than people imagine. 
For who can suppose that, amid the greatest multitude of 
students, the utmost abundance of masters, the most emi- 
nent geniuses among men, the infinite variety of causes, the 
most ample rewards offered to eloquence, there is any other 
reason to be found for the small number of orators than the 
incredible magnitude and difficulty of the art? A knowl- 
edge of a vast number of things is necessary, without which 
volubility of words is empty and ridiculous ; speech itself is 
to be formed, not merely by choice, but by careful con- 
struction of words ; and all the emotions of the mind, which 
nature has given to man, must be known intimately; for all 
the force and art of speaking must be employed in allaying 
or exciting the feelings of those who listen. 

2. To this must be added a certain portion of grace and 
wit, learning worthy of a well-bred man, and quickness and 
brevity in replying as well as attacking, accompanied with 

415 



416 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

a refined decorum and urbanity. Besides, the whole of an- 
tiquity and a multitude of examples is to be kept in the mem- 
ory ; nor is the knowledge of laws in general, or of the civil 
law in particular, to be neglected. And why need I add any 
remarks on delivery itself, which is to be ordered by action 
of body, by gesture, by look, and by modulation and varia- 
tion of the voice, the great power of which, alone and in 
itself, the comparatively trivial art of actors and the stage 
proves, on which though all bestow their utmost labor to 
form their look, voice, and gesture, who knows not how few 
there are, and have ever been, to whom we can attend with 
patience ? 

3. What can I say of that repository for all things, the 
memory, which, unless it be made the keeper of the matter 
and words that are the fruits of thought and invention, all 
the talents of the orator, we see, though they be of the 
highest degree of excellence, will be of no avail? Let us, 
then, cease to wonder what is the cause of the scarcity of 
good speakers, since eloquence results from all those qualifi- 
cations, in each of which singly it is a great merit to labor 
successfully. 

In my opinion, indeed, no man can be an orator possessed 
of every praiseworthy accomplishment, unless he has attained 
the knowledge of everything important, and of all liberal 
arts, for his language must be ornate and copious from 
knowledge, since, unless there be beneath the surface matter 
understood and felt by the speaker, oratory becomes an 
empty and almost puerile flow of words. 

4. Nothing seems to me to be more noble than to be able 
to fix the attention of assemblies of men by speaking, to 
fascinate their minds, to direct their passions to whatever 
object the orator pleases, and to dissuade them from what- 
soever he desires. This particular art has constantly flour- 
ished above all others in every free state, and especially in 
those which have enjoyed peace and tranquillity, and has 
ever exercised great power. For what is so admirable as 



Essay — Exposition 417 

that, out of an infinite multitude of men, there should arise 
a single individual who can alone, or with a few others, ex- 
ert effectually that power which nature has granted to all? 

5. Or what is so pleasant to be heard and understood as. 
an oration adorned and polished with wise thoughts and 
weighty expressions? Or what is so striking, so astonish- 
ing, as that the tumults of the people, the religious feelings 
of judges, the gravity of the senate, should be swayed by the 
speech of one man? Or what, moreover, is so kingly, so 
liberal, so munificent, as to give assistance to the suppliant, 
to raise the afflicted, to bestow security, to deliver from 
dangers, to maintain men in the rights of citizenship? 

6. Or consider (that you may not always contemplate 
the forum, the benches, the rostra, and the senate) what 
can be more delightful in leisure, or more suited to social 
intercourse, than elegant conversation, betraying no want 
of intelligence on any subject? For it is by this one gift 
that we are most distinguished from brute animals, that we 
converse together, and can express our thoughts by speech. 
Who, therefore, would not justly make this an object of 
admiration, and think it worthy of his utmost exertions, 
to surpass mankind themselves in that single excellence by 
which they claim their superiority over N brutes? 

7. But, that we may notice the most important point of 
all, what other power could either have assembled mankind, 
when dispersed, into one place, or have brought them from 
wild and savage life to the present humane and civilized state 
of society; or, when cities were established, have described 
for them laws, judicial institutions, and rights? And that 
I may not mention more examples, which are almost with- 
out number, I will conclude the subject in one short sen- 
tence; for I consider, that by the judgment and wisdom of 
the perfect orator, not only his own honor, but that of many 
other individuals, and the welfare of the whole state, are 
principally upheld. 



ESSAY— ARGUMENTATIVE 
FREE SPEECH 

By Lyman Abbott, Clergyman, Editor and Author. B. 1835, 
Massachusetts ; now resides in Brooklyn, New York. 

This article appeared in the Outlook for May 30, 1914. Be- 
ing argumentative, it is purely intellectual. Note the force of 
the general illustration and the specific instances; also, the 
appropriate introduction and pertinent conclusion. 

1. There is a good deal of nonsense uttered in our time 
about free speech. There is no reason why the tongue should 
be any freer than the hand; no reason why society should 
not punish a man who uses his tongue to injure his neigh- 
bor as it punishes the man who uses his hand to injure his 
neighbor ; no reason why it should not take necessary pro- 
tective measures to guard against wrong-doing by the tongue 
as it takes necessary preventive measures to guard against 
wrong-doing by the hand. 

2. Free speech does not mean that every man has a right 
to say anything he pleases at any time he pleases and in 
any place he pleases. The Socialist has no more right to 
go into a church meeting and interrupt the church services 
for the purpose of asking the minister for his views on a so- 
cial question than the minister would have to go into a So- 
cialist meeting and interrupt it for the purpose of asking 
the Socialist orator his views on a theological question, or 
than he would have to go into a theater and stop the play 
while he catechised the actor, or than a Protestant would 
have to go into a Roman Catholic Church and stop the Mass 
while he delivered a sermon against the infallibility of the 
Pope. The men who build or hire a hall or a church for a 

418 



Essay — A rgwmentatvoe 419 

specific purpose have a right, both moral and legal, to use 
it exclusively for that purpose. It is quite apparent that 
a reformer would not have the right, even if he possessed 
the power, to corral a reluctant audience into a hall and 
compel them to listen to an advocacy of his reform, however 
important that reform might be. He has no more right to 
insist upon going before an audience already gathered in a 
hall of their own providing and insist that they listen to him. 

3. Nor does the right of free speech mean that any man 
has a right to convert the public street into a public audience 
hall and prevent its use as a highway by blocking it up with 
his extemporized audience. The public, who have created 
the street in order that they may go from place to place 
with the greater convenience, have a right to keep it open for 
the use for which it was created. 

4. The right of free speech does not mean that the pub- 
lic have no right to use their streets, the worshipers their 
churches, or the actors their theaters. 

5. In a great city there are a good many men and women 
who want, and ought to have, an opportunity to put their 
views on public questions before those who are willing to 
listen, but they have not the means to lease or build a hall 
for that purpose. For this reason, in such a city, provision 
should be made for them by the public. This might be done 
by allowing them to present their views, under such regula- 
tion as may be necessary to prevent public disorder or ser- 
ious injury to the property of the public, in an audience- 
room connected with the public school, or by constructing 
an audience-room for the purpose, or by allowing them to 
use certain portions of the public park or parks. The de- 
mand that the public shall make some such provision is a 
reasonable demand and ought to be complied with. But the 
faliure of the public to do so does not justify a man who 
has no hall in taking possession of some one else's hall or 
some one else's audience. 

6. Two recent occurrences in New York City furnished 



420 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

examples of the confused ideas that prevail among certain 
people concerning free speech. In one instance, a crowd 
gathered at Union Square and blocked the public way ; in 
another case, Mr. Bouck White, a clergyman opposed to 
capitalism, interrupted the services of the Calvary Baptist 
Church. Both occurrences also serve to illustrate the wrong 
way of dealing with such disturbers. In the one case — this 
was just before the present Police Commissioner took office 
— the police handled with unnecessary roughness those whom 
they regarded as the leaders in the crowd ; in the other case, 
Mr. White and his followers were forcibly ejected from the 
church, and at least one or two were roughly handled in the 
process of ejection. 

7. That the police in the first instance made a great mis- 
take was clear from what was brought out in court; and 
the public has already recorded its disapproval of that exhi- 
bition of roughness. 

8. In our judgment, the Calvary Baptist Church also 
made a great mistake in using physical force to eject Mr. 
Bouck White when he arose and interrupted the services. 
It was a mistake, not because Mr. White had a right to 
interrupt the services (for he had no such right), nor be- 
cause the proprietors of the church had no right to eject 
him for doing so (for, technically, they have a right to eject 
disturbers), but because the course which they pursued de- 
feated its own ends by advertising the views of the disturber, 
increasing the hostility of the constituents he represented 
to the churches, and it was not consistent with the spirit 
or teaching of Him whose name the Church bears. If Dr. 
Woelfkin had allowed Mr. White to ask his question, had 
given it a prompt categorical reply, and then gone on with 
the services, or if he had said to Mr. White, "If you will 
wait until this service is concluded, you may ask me any 
question you like and I will answer it, and as many of the 
congregation can remain as care to do so," he would have 
pursued a much wiser course; he would have reduced the 



Essay — Argumentative 4&1 

interruption to a minimum, and would have done what could 
be done to lessen, rather than to increase, the hostility to 
the churches of the class whom Mr. Bouck White represents. 
9. The true way to repress cranks is not to suppress 
them; it is to give them opportunity to air their theories 
before any who wish to listen, while forbidding them to com- 
pel those to listen who do not wish to do so. 



ORATION— FORENSIC 
SPEECH OF BRUTUS 

By William Shakespeare, Poet, Dramatist, and Actor. B. 
1564, England; d. 1616, England. 

From Julius Ccesar, Act III, Scene 2. Due allowance must 
be made for the dramatic license taken by Shakespeare in re- 
cording the speeches of Brutus and Antony. A conspiracy is 
formed to assassinate Caesar, Brutus has been persuaded to join 
this conspiracy, Caesar is murdered and the common people are 
in ignorance of the meaning of it all. Brutus, an orator of no 
little fame, undertakes to justify his action by addressing the 
citizens in the forum. 

Brutus speaks to a neutral audience. Note how adroitly he 
uses the rhetorical question and encourages the populace to join 
with him in his deliberation. They are easily won over to his 
cause, and with a magnanimity characteristic of the truly great, 
he bids them all listen to his opponent. 

Brutus is calm and confident. He is sincere in his belief that 
Caesar was an enemy to the commonwealth of Rome. Honesty 
of conviction has great weight with an audience. 

In reading this selection omit the remarks in brackets. In 
the fourth paragraph note the alternate rising and falling slides 
in the balanced sentences. However, there is a downward in- 
flection on "death." Observe the climactical questions and the 
dramatic close in the fifth paragraph. Mark the transitions at 
the beginning of the seventh and eighth paragraphs. 

1. Romans, countrymen, and lovers! hear me for my 
cause, and be silent, that you may hear : believe me for mine 
honor, and have respect to mine honor, that you may be- 
lieve: censure me in your wisdom, and awake your senses, 
that you may the better judge. 

£. If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of 
Caesar's, to him I say that Brutus's love to Caesar was no less 

422 



Oration — Forensic 423 

than his. If, then, that friend demand why Brutus rose 
against Caesar, this is my answer: Not that I loved Caesar 
less, but that I loved Rome more. 

3. Had you rather Caesar were living, and die all slaves, 
than that Caesar were dead, to live all freemen? 

4. As Caesar loved me, I weep for him; as he was for- 
tunate, I rejoice at it; as he was valiant, I honor him; but 
as he was ambitious, I slew him. There is tears, for his 
love; joy, for his fortune; honor, for his valor; and death, 
for his ambition. 

5. Who is here so base, that would be a bondman? If 
any, speak; for him have I offended. Who is here so rude, 
that would not be a Roman ? If any, speak ; for him have I 
offended. Who is here so vile, that will not love his coun- 
try? If any, speak; for him have I offended. I pause for 
a reply. — [Citizens cry out, "None, Brutus — none!**] — 
None ! Then none have I offended. 

6. I have done no more to Caesar than you shall do to 
Brutus. The question of his death is enrolled in the Capi- 
tol; his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy; nor 
his offenses enforced, for which he suffered death. 

[Enter Antony and others with Cesar's body.] 

7. Here comes his body, mourned by Mark Antony; 
who, though he had no hand in his death, shall receive the 
benefit of his dying — a place in the commonwealth : as which 
of you shall not? 

8. With this I depart: That, as I slew my best lover 
for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself, 
when it shall please my country to need my death. 



ORATION— FORENSIC 
MARK ANTONY'S ORATION 

By William Shakespeare, Poet, Dramatist, and Actor. B. 
1564, England; d. 1616, England. 

From Julius Caesar, Act III, Scene 2. When Brutus concludes 
his speech, Antony begins. He speaks to a hostile audience. 
He, therefore, begins by speaking very highly of Brutus and his 
friends; then proceeds with such oratorical skill and diplomacy 
as was never equalled by any other orator. He uses "all the re- 
sources of the living man" and succeeds in persuading the citi- 
zens to avenge the death of Julius Caesar. 

This speech, as are all true orations, is addressed to the Will. 
Antony tries, not so much to present convincing arguments, as to 
move men by arousing their emotions. He begins in a quiet, 
deliberate manner, appealing to their intelligence, down to the 
line: 

"You all did love him once, not without cause." 

From this point the speech is intensely emotional through- 
out. The orator does not give way to his sorrow, but deliberately 
controls it. The struggle to retain command of his emotions 
when his "heart is in the coffin" wins the crowd. His silence 
was more eloquent than his speech. Many elocutionists place 
a circumflex inflection on the word "honorable." This is not 
advisable. The best actors to-day place a "straight" inflection 
on this word ; though there is no doubt that the word is ironically 
used toward the middle of the speech. 

Note the series of climaxes throughout the selection. After 
each outburst of the citizens, the speaker tends to quiet them, but 
soon becomes more and more impassioned until there is another 
outburst, each stronger than the last. 

When reading this selection, have the different characters rep- 
resented by different members of the class. With very little ex- 
tra work an effective "stage setting" can be presented. This 
will very materially increase the dramatic effect and the in- 
terest in its rendition. 

424 



Oration — Forensic 425 

1. Antony. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me 

your ears: 
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him. 
The evil that men do lives after them; 
The good is oft interred with their bones: 
So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus 
Hath told you Caesar was ambitious : 
If it were so, it was a grievous fault; 
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it. 
Here, under leave of Brutus, and the rest 
(For Brutus is an honorable man; 
So are they all, all honorable men), 

2. Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral. 
He was my friend, faithful and just to me: 
But Brutus says, he was ambitious; 

And Brutus is an honorable man. 

He hath brought many captives home to Rome. 

Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill: 

Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? 

When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; 

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff: 

Yet Brutus says, he was ambitious ; 

And Brutus is an honorable man. 

3. You all did see, that on the Lupercal, 
I thrice presented him a kingly crown, 

Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? 

Yet Brutus says, he was ambitious; 

And, sure, he is an honorable man. 

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, 

JBut here I am to speak what I do know. 

You all did love him once, not without cause ; 

What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? 

O judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts, 

And men have lost their reason! — Bear with me; 

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar, 

And I must pause, till it come back to me. 



426 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

4. 1 Cit. Methinks, there is much reason in his sayings. 
% Cit. If thou consider rightly of the matter, 

Caesar has had great wrong. 

3 Cit. Has he, masters? 

I fear, there will a worse come in his place. 

4 Cit. Mark'd ye his words ? he would not take the crown ; 
Therefore, 'tis certain, he was not ambitious. 

1 Cit. If it be found so, some will dear abide it. 

2 Cit. Poor soul ! his eyes are red as fire with weeping. 

3 Cit. There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony. 
Jp Cit. Now mark him, he begins again to speak. 

5. Antony. But yesterday, the word of Caesar might 
Have stood against the world: now lies he there, 

And none so poor to do him reverence. 

masters ! if I were disposed to stir 
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, 

1 should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong, 
Who, you all know, are honorable men: 

I will not do them wrong ; I rather choose 

To wrong the dead, to wrong myself, and you, 

Than I will wrong such honorable men. 

6. But here's a parchment, with the seal of Caesar. 
I found it in his closet ; 'tis his will : 

Let but the commons hear his testament 
(Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read) 
And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds, 
And dip their napkins in his sacred blood ; 
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory, 
And, dying, mention it within their wills, 
Bequeathing it, as a rich legacy, 
Unto their issue. 

7. 4 Cit. We'll hear the will : Read it, Mark Antony. 
Cit. The will, the will; we will hear Caesar's will. 

Ant. Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it ; 
It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you. 
You are not wood, you are not stones, but men; 



Oration — Forensic 427 

And, being men, hearing the will of Caesar, 
It will inflame you, it will make you mad. 
'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs ; 
For if you should, oh, what would come of it ! 

8. 4. Cit. Read the will! We'll hear it, Antony! 
You shall read us the will — Caesar's will! 

Ant. Will you be patient? Will you stay a while? 
I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it. 
I fear I wrong the honorable men 
Whose daggers have stabbed Caesar: I do fear it! 

4 Cit. They were traitors ! — Honorable men ! 
All. The will! — the testament! 

2 Cit. They were villains — murderers ! The will ! — read 
the will! 

9. Ant. You will compel me, then to read the will? 
Then make- a ring about the corpse of Caesar, 

And let me show you him that made the will. 
Shall I descend? And will you give me leave? 

All. Come down. 

2 Cit. Descend. [He comes down.~\ 

5 Cit. You shall have leave. 

4 Cit. A ring! Stand round! 

1 Cit. Stand from the hearse! stand from the body! 

2 Cit. Room for Antony — most noble Antony! 
Ant. Nay, press not so upon me ; stand far off. 
All. Stand back ! Room ! Bear back ! 

10. Ant. If you have tears, prepare to shed them now. 
You all do know this mantle; I remember 

The first time ever Caesar put it on ; 

'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent, 

That day he overcame the Nervii: — 

Look! In this place ran Cassius' dagger through: 

See, what a rent the envious Casca made: 

Through this, the well-beloved Brutus stabb'd; 

And, as he pluck'd his cursed steel away, 

Mark how the blood of Caesar follow'd it; 



428 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

As rushing out of doors, to be resolved 

If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no ; 

For Brutus, as you know, was Caesar's angel: 

Judge, O you gods, how dearly Caesar loved him ! 

This was the most unkindest cut of all: 

For when the noble Caesar saw him stab, 

Ingratitude, more strong than traitors' arms, 

Quite vanquish'd him: then burst his mighty heart; 

And, in his mantle muffling up his face, 

Even at the base of Pompey's statue 

(Which all the while ran blood), great Caesar fell. 

Oh, what a fall was there, my countrymen! 

Then I, and you, and all of us fell down, 

Whilst bloody treason flourish'd over us. 

11. O, now you weep ; and, I perceive, you feel 
The dint of pity : these are gracious drops. 

Kind souls, what, weep you, when you but behold 
Our Caesar's vesture wounded? Look you here, 
Here is himself, marr'd, as you see, with traitors. 

1 Cit. O piteous spectacle! 

2 Cit. O noble Caesar! 
S Cit. wof ul day ! 

4 Cit. O traitors, villains ! 
1 Cit. O, most bloody sight ! 

% Cit. We will be revenged; revenge; about, — seek, — 
burn, — fire, — kill, — slay! — let not a traitor live. 

12. Ant. Stay, countrymen! [They are rushing out.'] 

1 Cit. Peace, there! Hear the noble Antony! 

2 Cit. We'll hear him, we'll follow him, we'll die with 

him! 

Ant. Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up 
To such a sudden flood of mutiny. 
They that have done this deed are honorable. 
What private griefs they have, alas! I know not, 
That made them do it; they are wise and honorable, 



Oration — Forensic 429 

And will, no doubt, with reasons answer you. 

I come not, friends, to steal away your hearts : 

I am no orator, as Brutus is, 

But, as you know me all, a plain, blunt man, 

That love my friend; and that they know full well 

That gave me public leave to speak of him. 

13. For I have neither wit, nor words, nor worth, 
Action, nor utterance, nor the power of speech, 
To stir men's blood ; I only speak right on ; 
I tell you that which you yourselves do know: 
Show you sweet Caesar's wounds — poor, poor dumb 

mouths — 
And bid them speak for me. But were I Brutus, 
And Brutus Antony, there were an Antony 
Would ruffle up your spirits, and put a tongue 
In every wound of Cagsar, that should move 
The stones of Rome to rise and mutiny. 



ORATION— FORENSIC 
THE IMPEACHMENT OF WARREN HASTINGS 

By Edmund Burke, Statesman and Orator. B. 1729, Ire- 
land; d. 1797, England. 

Warren Hastings, Governor-General of India, was brought 
before the House of Lords in 1788 to be tried for impeachment, 
being charged with "high crimes and misdemeanors." The trial 
lasted seven years. He was obliged to meet the oratory of 
Burke, Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, and many others who were politi- 
cally arrayed against him, by presenting his past record and a 
clear conscience. In 1795 the House of Lords acquitted him. 
An extract from the speech of Mr. Burke follows. 

This forensic style demands a vigorous expression. There 
is a rising inflection on the questions beginning with paragraphs 
Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5. Observe a gradual climax in No. 10. No. 
1 1 begins with a transition. Deliver this in a lower tone and 
with normal intensity, gaining more force as you proceed to the 
end of the selection. The vital quality of voice should be used 
throughout. 

1. In the name of the Commons of England, I charge 
all this villainy upon Warren Hastings, in this last mo- 
ment of my application to you. 

2. My Lords, what is it that we want here to a great 
act of national justice? Do we want a cause, my. Lords? 
You have the cause of oppressed princes, of undone women 
of the first rank, of desolated provinces, and of wasted 
kingdoms. 

3. Do you want a criminal, my Lords ? When was there 
so much iniquity ever laid to the charge of any one? No, 
my Lords, you must not look to punish any other such 
delinquent from India. Warren Hastings has not left sub- 
stance enough in India to nourish such another delinquent. 

430 



Oration — Forensic 431 

4. My Lords, is it a prosecutor you want? You have 
before you the Commons of Great Britain as prosecutors ; 
and I believe, my Lords, that the sun, in his beneficent 
progress round the world, does not behold a more glorious 
sight than that of men, separated from a remote people 
by the material bounds and barriers of nature, united by 
the bond of a social and moral community — all the Com- 
mons of England resenting, as their own, the indignities 
and cruelties, that are offered to all the people of India. 

5. Do we want a tribunal? My Lords, no example of 
antiquity, nothing in the modern world, nothing in the range 
of human imagination, can supply us with a tribunal like 
this. My Lords, here we see virtually, in the mind's eye, 
that sacred majesty of the Crown, under whose authority 
you sit and whose power you exercise. 

6. We have here all the branches of the royal family, 
in a situation between majesty and subjection, between the 
sovereign and the subject — offering a pledge, in that situ- 
ation, for the support of the rights of the Crown and the 
liberties of the people, both of which extremities they touch. 

7. My Lords, we have a great hereditary peerage here ; 
those who have their own honor, the honor of their ances- 
tors, and of their posterity, to guard, and who will justify, 
as they always have justified, that provision in the Consti- 
tution by which justice is made an hereditary office. 

8. My Lords, we have here a new nobility, who have 
risen, and exalted themselves by various merits, by great 
civil and military services, 'which have extended the fame 
of this country from the rising to the setting sun. 

9. My Lords, you have here, also, the lights of our re- 
ligion; you have the bishops of England. My Lords, you 
have that true image of the primitive Church in its ancient 
form, in its ancient ordinances, purified from the super- 
stitions and the vices which a long succession of ages will 
bring upon the best institutions. 

10. My Lords, these are the securities which we have in 



432 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

all the constituent parts of the body of this House. We 
know them, we reckon, we rest upon them, and commit safely 
the interests of India and of humanity into your hands. 
Therefore, it is with confidence, that, ordered by the Com- 
mons, 

I impeach Warren Hastings, Esquire, of high crimes and 
misdemeanors. 

I impeach him in the name of the Commons of Great 
Britain, in Parliament assembled, whose parliamentary trust 
he has betrayed. 

I impeach him in the name of all the Commons of Great 
Britain, whose national character he has dishonored. 

I impeach him in the name of the people of India, whose 
laws, rights, and liberties he has subverted, whose property 
he has destroyed, whose country he has laid waste and deso- 
late. 

I impeach him in the name, and by virtue of those eter- 
nal laws of justice which he has violated. 

I impeach him in the name of human nature itself, which 
he has cruelly outraged, injured and oppressed, in both 
sexes, in every age, rank, situation, and condition of life. 

11. My Lords, there is a consolation, and a great con- 
solation it is, which often happens to oppressed virtue and 
fallen dignity; it often happens that the very oppressors 
and persecutors themselves are forced to bear testimony in 
its favor. The Parliament of Paris had an origin very, 
very similar to that of the great court before which I stand ; 
the Parliament of Paris continued to have a great resem- 
blance to it in its Constitution, even to its fall; the Par- 
liament of Paris, my Lords, — WAS; it is gone! It has 
passed away ; it has vanished like a dream ! It fell pierced 
by the sword of the Compte de Mirabeau. And yet that 
man, at the time of his inflicting the death-wound of that 
Parliament, produced at once the shortest and the grandest 
funeral oration that ever was or could be made upon the 
departure of a great court of magistracy. When he pro- 



Oration — Forensic 433 

nounced the death sentence upon that Parliament, and in- 
flicted the mortal wound, he declared that his motives for 
doing it were merely political, and that their hands were 
as pure as those of justice itself, which they administered 
— a great and glorious exit, my Lords, of a great and glor- 
ious body! 

12. My Lords, if you must fall, may you so fall! But, 
if you stand, and stand I trust you will, together with the 
fortunes of this ancient monarchy — together with the an- 
cient laws and liberties of this great and illustrious kingdom, 
may you stand as unimpeached in honor as in power ; may 
you stand, not as a substitute for virtue, but as an orna- 
ment of virtue, as a security for virtue; may you stand 
long, and long stand the terror of tyrants ; may you stand 
the refuge of afflicted Nations ; may you stand a sacred 
temple, for the perpetual residence of an inviolable justice! 



ORATION— FORENSIC 
JURY ADDRESS 

By Daniel Webster, Jurist, Statesman and Orator. B. 1782, 
New Hampshire; d. 1852, Massachusetts. 

Captain Joseph White, a respectable and wealthy citizen of 
Salem, Massachusetts, eighty-two years of age, on the morning 
of April 7, 1830, was found murdered in his bed. Richard 
and George Crownishield with Joseph J. and his brother John 
F. Knapp were arrested for the murder. Richard Crownishield 
committed suicide. John F. Knapp was tried for murder; and 
convicted. Joseph J. Knapp was tried later and convicted. 
George Crownishield was freed. The Knapps were related to 
Captain White by marriage, and having previously destroyed a 
will made by Captain White, sought his death before this fact 
could be discovered and another will written. 

Mr. Webster was asked to aid the government in the prose- 
cution. The following extract is taken from his concluding 
speech August 20, 1830; and is considered one of the most re- 
markable speeches in one of the most extraordinary murder cases 
in America. 

Paragraph three presents a most vivid picture of the mur- 
der. This should be portrayed in a very dramatic manner. The 
conclusion to this address has been effectually used in a modi- 
fied form in thousands of cases by young attorneys, and should 
be memorized by every aspiring lawyer. Speak as though you 
were attempting to convince and persuade an actual jury. 

1. Gentlemen, this is a most extraordinary case. In 
some respects it has hardly a precedent anywhere, certainly 
none in our New England history. This bloody drama 
exhibited no suddenly excited, ungovernable rage. It was 
a cool, calculating, money-making murder. It was the 
weighing of money against life; the counting out of so 
many pieces of silver against so many ounces of blood. 

434 



Oration — Forensic 435 

2. An aged man, without an enemy in the world, in his 
own house and in his own bed, is made the victim of a 
butcherly murder for mere pay. Truly, here is a new les- 
son for painters and poets. Whoever shall hereafter draw 
the portrait of murder, let him not give it the grim visage 
of Moloch,- — the brow knitted by revenge, the face black 
with settled hate, and the bloodshot eye emitting livid fires 
of malice. Let him draw rather a decorous, smooth-faced, 
bloodless demon ; a picture in repose rather than in action ; 
not so much an example of human nature in its depravity 
and in its paroxysms of crime, as an infernal being, a fiend, 
in the ordinary display and development of his character. 

3. The circumstances now clearly in evidence spread 
out the whole scene before us. Deep sleep had fallen on 
the destined victim, and on all beneath his roof. A health- 
ful old man, to whom sleep was sweet, the first sound slum- 
bers of the night held him in their soft but strong embrace. 
The assassin enters, through the window already prepared, 
into an unoccupied apartment. With noiseless foot he paces 
the lonely hall, half lighted by the moon ; he winds up the 
ascent of the stairs, and reaches the door of the chamber. 
He enters, and beholds his victim before him. The face of 
the innocent sleeper is turned from the murderer, and the 
beams of the moon, resting on the gray locks of his aged 
temple, show him where to strike. The fatal blow is given ! 
and the victim passes, without a struggle or a motion, from 
the repose of sleep to the repose of death! The murderer 
retreats, retraces his steps to the window, passes out 
through it as he came in, and escapes. He has done the 
deed. No eye has seen him, no ear has heard him. The 
secret is his own, and it is safe! 

3ffr ^ $fc ¥fc $& 7& 7& 

4. Ah! Gentleman, that was a dreadful mistake. Such 
a secret can be safe nowhere. The whole creation of God 
has neither nook nor corner where the guilty can bestow it, 
and say it is safe. A thousand eyes turn at once to explore 



436 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

every man, every thing, every circumstance, connected with 
the time and place; a thousand ears catch every whisper; 
a thousand excited minds intensely dwell on the scene, shed- 
ding all their light, and ready to kindle the slightest cir- 
cumstance into a blaze of discovery. Meantime the guilty 
soul cannot keep its own secret. It is false to itself; or 
rather it feels an irresistible impulse of conscience to be 
true to itself. It labors under its guilty possession, and 
knows not what to do with it. The human heart was not 
made for the residence of such an inhabitant. The secret 
which the murderer possesses soon comes to possess him; 
and, like the evil spirits of which we read, it overcomes him, 
and leads him whithersoever it will. He feels it beating at 
his heart, rising to his throat, and demanding disclosure. 
He thinks the whole world sees it in his face, reads it in his 
eyes, and almost hears its workings in the very silence of 
his thoughts. It has become his master. It betrays his dis- 
cretion, it breaks down 'his courage, it conquers his pru- 
dence. When suspicions from without begin to embarrass 
him, and the net of circumstance to entangle him, the fatal 
secret struggles with still greater violence to burst forth. 
It must be confessed, it will be confessed ; there is no refuge 

from confession but suicide, and suicide is confession. 
******* 

5. Gentlemen, your whole concern in this case should be 
to do your duty, and leave consequences to take care of 
themselves. You will receive the law from the court. Your 
verdict, it is true, may endanger the prisoner's life, but then 
it is to save other lives. If the prisoner's guilt has been 
shown and proved beyond all reasonable doubt, you will 
convict him. If such reasonable doubts of guilt still remain, 
you will acquit him. You are the judges of the whole case. 
You owe a duty to the public as well as to the prisoner at 
the bar. You cannot presume to be wiser than the law. 
Your duty is a plain, straightforward one. Doubtless we 
would all judge him in mercy. Towards him, as an individ- 



Oration — Forensic 437 

ual, the law inculcates no hostility; but towards him, if 
proved to be a murderer, the law, and the oaths you have 
taken, and public justice, demand that you do your duty. 

6. With consciences satisfied with the discharge of duty, 
no consequences can harm you. There is no evil that we 
cannot either face or fly from, but the consciousness of duty 
disregarded. A sense of duty pursues us ever. It is omni- 
present, like the Deity. If we take to ourselves the wings 
of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 
duty performed, or duty violated, is still with us, for our 
happiness or our misery. If we say the darkness shall cover 
us, in the darkness as in the light our obligations are yet 
with us. We cannot escape their power, nor fly from their 
presence. They are with us in this life, will be with us at 
its close ; and in that scene of inconceivable solemnity, which 
lies yet farther onward, we shall still find ourselves sur- 
rounded by the consciousness of duty, to pain us wherever 
it has been violated, and to console us so far as God may 
have given us grace to perform it. 



ORATION— FORENSIC 
EMMETT'S DEFENSE 

By Robert Emmett, Irish Patriot and Orator. B. 1778, Ire- 
land; d. 1803, England. 

The struggle for Irish independence has occasioned many 
orations, but none more popular than this. At the age of twenty- 
five Emmett had organized and headed a party of insurgents in 
Dublin, and was in secret communication with Napoleon and 
Talleyrand. Believing that France was about to attack England, 
Emmett advanced with a small party upon Dublin Castle. Chief 
Justice, Lord Kilwarden was killed. Through a misunder- 
standing, Emmett found himself only at the head of a mob. He 
escaped, but was later captured. He was tried for high treason, 
and executed the next day. In reply to the usual question asked 
of the prisoner after the verdict has been rendered, he made this 
eloquent and impassioned speech. About one-third is here given. 
It was extempore in the main for much of it is in direct reply 
to remarks made by the judge. 

When reciting this selection, imagine yourself in the doomed 
man's place. The first two paragraphs mark the Introduction, 
and are primarily intellectual. The next two paragraphs ex- 
press a gradual climax in passion and earnestness, culminating 
in the emotional interjection, "God forbid!' 

The last paragraph begins with a spirit of acrimony and 
vindictiveness, followed with quiet pathos and concluding with 
a firm and vigorous appeal to his fellow country men. Studi- 
ously avoid a "giving way" to the emotions of sadness in the 
more tender expressions. Emmett was not a man to bid for 
pity or even sympathy, but was calm, stoical and fearless to the 
last. 

1. What have I to say why sentence of death should not 
be pronounced against me according to law ? I have nothing 
to say which can alter your predetermination, nor that it 
will become me to say with any view to the mitigation of that 

438 



Oration — Forensic 439 

sentence which you are here to pronounce, and by which I 
must abide. But I have that to say which interests me 
more than life. I have much to say why my reputation 
should be rescued from the load of calumny and false ac- 
cusation which have been heaped upon it. 

2. Were I only to suffer death after being adjudged 
guilty by your tribunal I should bow in silence and meet the 
fate that awaits me without a murmur; but the sentence of 
the law which delivers my body to the executioner will 
through the ministry of that law labor in its own vindica- 
tion to consign my character to obloquy. The man dies, but 
his memory lives. That mine may live in the hearts and 
in the respect of my countrymen, I seize upon this oppor- 
tunity to vindicate myself from some of the charges alleged 
against me. 

3. When my spirit shall be wafted to a more friendly 
port, when my shade shall have joined the bands of these 
martyred heroes who have shed their blood on the scaffold 
and in the field, in defense of their country and virtue — 
this is my hope: I wish that my memory and name may 
animate those who survive me while I look down compla- 
cently on the destruction of that perfidious government 
which upholds its domination by the blasphemy of the Most 
High; which displays its power over men as over beasts of 
the forest ; which sets man against his brother and raises 
his hand in the name of God against the throat of his fellow 
who believes or doubts a little more or a little less than the 
government standard, a government steeled to barbarity by 
the cries of orphans and the tears of widows it has made. 

4. Let no man dare when I am dead to charge me with 
dishonor. Let no man attaint my memory by believing that 
I could engage in any cause but of my country's liberty and 
independence. In the dignity of freedom, I would have 
fought on the threshold of my country, and its enemy could 
have entered only by passing over my lifeless corpse. And 
now, am I who lived but for my country and who have sub- 



440 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

jected myself to the dangers of a jealous and watchful op- 
pressor* and the bondage of the grace — am I to be loaded 
with calumny and not suffered to resent or repel it? No, 
God forbid! 

5. My lords, you are impatient for the sacrifice. The 
blood for which you thirst is not congealed by those artifi- 
cial terrors that surround your victim, but flows freely and 
unruffled through the channels which God created for nobler 
purposes, and which you are now bent to destroy. Be yet 
patient ; I have but a few more words to say. I am going 
to my cold and silent grave; my lamp of life is almost ex- 
tinguished; my race is run. The grave opens to receive me 
and I sink into its bosom. ... I have but one request to 
make at my departure from this world. It is the charit} r 
of its silence. Let no man write my epitaph, for, as no 
man who knows my motives dares now vindicate them, let 
not prejudice nor ignorance espouse them. Let them and 
me rest in obscurity and peace, and my tomb uninscribed 
until other times and other men can do justice to my char- 
acter. When my country takes her place among the na- 
tions of the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph 
be written. 



ORATION— FORENSIC 
DEFENSE BEFORE AGRIPPA 

By Saint Paul, Apostle, Missionary, and Theologian. B. 
1 (?) A.D., Tarsus, Cilicia; d. 65 (?), Rome. 

Paul had been brought up for trial and acquitted a number of 
times. Finally, to please the Jews, Felix left him in bonds. 
When Festus became governor of Caesarea he found Paul in 
chains. Paul demanded, since he was a Roman, to be sent for 
trial to Cagsar. King Agrippa and his wife Bernice having 
come to the province on a visit, Festus sends for Paul to give 
him an examining trial before King Agrippa, his wife, and the 
principal men of the city, so that when Paul is sent to Rome, 
Festus may have some definite accusation against him. Paul is 
asked to speak for himself. He does with such sincerity, sim- 
plicity and eloquence that when he concludes, the purpose of 
the meeting has been forgotten. 

Use throughout a conversational and persuasive tone. Enter 
into the spirit of enthusiasm and earnestness that was always 
characteristic of Paul. Paragraph eight permits of considerable 
dramatization, but not to the extent of attempting to impersonate 
the voice of God. Let the manner rather than the character 
of tone distinguish the two voices. 

1. I think myself happy? King Agrippa, that I am to 
make my defense before thee this day touching all the things 
whereof I am accused by the Jews : especially because thou 
art expert in all customs and questions which are among 
the Jews : wherefore I beseech thee to hear me patiently. 
My manner of life then from my youth up, which was from 
the beginning among mine own nation, and at Jerusalem, 
know all the Jews ; having knowledge of me from the first, if 
they be willing to testify, how that after the straitest sect 
of our religion I lived a Pharisee. 

441 



44£ Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

2. And now I stand here to be judged for the hope of 
the promise made of God unto our fathers; unto which 
promise our twelve tribes, earnestly serving God night and 
day, hope to attain. And concerning this hope I am accused 
by the Jews, O king! Why is it judged incredible with you, 
if God doth raise the dead? I verily thought with myself, 
that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of 
Jesus of Nazareth. And this I also did in Jerusalem ; and I 
both shut up many of the saints in prisons, having received 
authority from the chief priests, and when they were put to 
death, I gave my vote against them. And punishing them 
oftentimes in the synagogues, I strove to make them blas- 
pheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I perse- 
cuted them even unto foreign cities. 

S. Whereupon as I journeyed to Damascus with the 
authority and commission of the chief priests, at midday, O 
king, I saw on the way a light from heaven, above the bright- 
ness of the sun, shining round about me and them that jour- 
neyed with me. And when we were all fallen to the earth, 
I heard a voice saying unto me in the Hebrew language, 
Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to 
kick against the goad. And I said, Who art thou, Lord? 
And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. But 
arise, and stand upon thy feet: for to this end have I 
appeared unto thee, to appoint thee a minister and a witness 
both of the things wherein thou hast seen me, and of the 
things wherein I will appear unto thee ; delivering thee from 
the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom I send thee, 
to open their eyes, that they may turn from darkness to 
light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may 
receive remission of sins and an inheritance among them 
that are sanctified by faith in me. 

4. Wherefore, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient 
unto the heavenly vision: but declared both to them of 
Damascus first, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the 
country at Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should 



Oration — Forensic 4*4*8 

repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance. 
For this cause the Jews seized me in the temple, and assayed 
to kill me. Having therefore obtained the help that is from 
God, I stand unto this day testifying both to small and 
great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses did 
say should come; how that the Christ must suffer, and how 
that he first by the resurrection of the dead should proclaim 
light both to the people and to the Gentiles. 

5. Festus, interrupting. Paul, thou art mad; thy much 
learning doth turn thee to madness. 

Paul. I am not mad, most excellent Festus ; but speak 
forth words of truth and soberness. For the king knoweth 
of these things, unto whom I also speak freely : for I am per- 
suaded that none of these things is hidden from him; for 
this hath not been in a corner. King Agrippa, believest 
thou the prophets? I know that thou believest. 

Agrippa. With but little persuasion thou wouldst fain 
make me a Christian. 



ORATION— FORENSIC 
AWAIT THE ISSUE 

By Thomas Carlyle, Historian, Philosopher, and Essayist. 
B. 1795, Scotland; d. 1881, England. 

This excerpt, adapted from Past and Present, Chapter II, en- 
titled "The Sphinx/' is of the forensic type, although it was not 
originally intended to be spoken. It was written in 1843, criti- 
cizing the impatience manifested by many Englishmen of that 
time on the injustice of the labor laws. Carlyle was a great 
friend of the common people. 

The first sentence is periodic in structure, and hence should 
be given with the rising inflection throughout. Marked em- 
phasis is required on "fool," "wise," "were," "denied," "but," 
"just," and "true," of the first paragraph. 

Breathe deeply at each pause in the second paragraph, so as 
not to run out of breath when delivering with great vigor the 
long phrases. Vocally express the strong climax at the close. 

The fourth paragraph furnishes a fine example for subordi- 
nation in emphasis. Note the words and phrases that bear the 
burden of the central thought (The Ultimate Triumph of Jus- 
tice), and bring these out with greatest force, subordinating the 
parts that only modify or qualify the main theme. Words and 
phrases for such special emphasis are: "right," "noble," "vic- 
tory," "the heaviest will reach the center," "it has to arrive 
there." 

Sustained strength should characterize the rendering of the 
last paragraph — it is a final appeal. 

1. In this — God's — world, with its wild, whirling eddies 
and mad, foam oceans, where men and nations perish as if 
without law, and judgment for an unjust thing is sternly 
delayed, dost thou think that there is therefore no justice? 
It is what the fool hath said in his heart. It is what the 
wise, in all times, were wise because they denied, and knew 

444 



Oration — Forensic 445 

forever not to be. I tell thee again, there is nothing else but 
justice. One strong thing I find here below: the just thing, 
the true thing. 

2. My friend, if thou hadst all the artillery of Woolwich 
trundling at thy back in support of an unjust thing, and in- 
finite bonfires visibly waiting ahead of thee to blaze centuries 
long for the victory on behalf of it, I would advise thee to 
call halt, to fling down thy baton, and say, "In Heaven's 
name, no!" 

3. Thy "success?" Poor devil, what will thy success 
amount to? If the thing is unjust, thou hast not succeeded; 
no, not though bonfires blazed from north to south, and bells 
rang, and editors wrote leading articles, and the just things 
lay trampled out of sight — to all mortal eyes an abolished 
and annihilated thing. 

4. For -it is the right and noble alone that will have vic- 
tory in this struggle ; the rest is wholly an obstruction, a 
postponement, a fearful imperilment of the victory. To- 
wards an eternal center of right and nobleness, and of that 
only, is all confusion tending. We already know whither 
it is all tending ; what will have victory, what will have none ! 
The heaviest will reach the center. The heaviest has its 
deflections ; its obstructions ; nay, at times its reboundings, 
its resiliences, whereupon some blockhead shall be heard 
jubilating, "See, your heaviest ascends !" but at all moments 
it is moving centerward, fast as is convenient for it ; sinking, 
sinking; and, by laws older than the world, old as the 
Maker's first plan of the world, it has to arrive there. 

5. Await the issue. In all battles, if you await the issue, 
each fighter has prospered according to his right. His right 
and his might, at the close of the account, were one and the 
same. He has fought with all his might, and in exact pro- 
portion to all his right he has prevailed. His very death is 
no victory over him. He dies indeed ; but his work lives, very 
truly lives. 

6. A heroic Wallace, quartered on the scaffold, cannot 



446 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

hinder that his Scotland become, one day, a part of Eng- 
land ; but he does hinder that it become, on tyrannous terms, 
a part of it; commands still, as with a god's voice, from his 
old Valhalla and Temple of the Brave, that there be a just, 
real union as of brother and brother, not a false and merely 
semblant one as of slave and master. If the union with Eng- 
land be in fact one of Scotland's chief blessings, we thank 
Wallace withal that it was not the chief curse. Scotland is 
not Ireland: no, because brave men rose there and said, 
"Behold, ye must not tread us down like slaves ; and ye shall 
not, and cannot!" 

7. Fight on, thou brave, true heart, and falter not, 
through dark fortune and through bright. The cause thou 
fightest for, so far as it is true, no further, yet precisely, so 
far, is very sure of victory. The falsehood alone of it will 
be conquered, will be abolished, as it ought to be; but the 
truth of it is part of Nature's own laws, co-operates with the 
world's eternal tendencies, and cannot be conquered. 



ORATION— DELIBERATIVE 
FREEDOM OR SLAVERY 

By Patrick Henry, Statesman and Orator. B. 1736, Virginia; 
d. 1799, Virginia. 

This extract from his speech delivered in the Provincial Con- 
vention of Virginia, March 23, 1775, is one of the most famous 
speeches in American history. Mr. Henry introduced resolutions 
in this Convention to organize the militia and put the Colony in 
an attitude of defense. He met with much opposition. He re- 
plied with such eloquence and power that the resolutions were 
adopted without an opposing vote. Mr. Henry was appointed 
chairman of a committee to prepare plans immediately for the 
defense of the province. 

This selection demands a very energetic, vigorous and even 
dramatic style of delivery. It demands action, "noble, sublime, 
God-like action." Note the similarity in style to that of De- 
mosthenes' On the Crown. 

1. Mr. President, It is natural for man to indulge in the 
illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a 
painful truth, and listen to the song of that Siren, till she 
transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, 
engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty? Are 
we disposed to be of the number of those who, having eyes, 
see not, and having ears, hear not the things which so nearly 
concern their temporal salvation? For my part, whatever 
anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole 
truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it. 

2. I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and 
that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judg- 
ing of the future but by the past. And judging by the past, 
I wish to know what there has been in the conduct of the 
British Ministry for the last ten years to justify those hopes 

447 



448 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace them- 
selves and the House. Is it that insidious smile with which 
our petition has been lately received? Trust it not, sir; it 
will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not yourselves to be 
betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves how this gracious re- 
ception of our petition comports with those warlike prepara- 
tions which cover our waters and darken our land. Are 
fleets and armies necessary to a work of love and reconcilia- 
tion? Have we shown ourselves so unwilling to be recon- 
ciled, that force must be called in to win back our love? 
Let us not deceive ourselves, sir. These are the implements 
of war and subjugation; the last arguments to which kings 
resort. I ask, gentlemen, sir, What means this martial ar- 
ray, if its purpose be not to force us to submission? Can 
gentlemen assign any other possible motive for it? Has 
Great Britain any enemy, in this quarter of the world, to call 
for all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she 
has none. They are meant for us : they can be meant for 
no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us 
those chains which the British Ministry have been so long 
forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall we 
try argument? Sir, we have been trying that for the last 
ten years. Have we anything new to offer upon the sub- 
ject? Nothing. We have held the subject up in every light 
of which it is capable; but it has been all in vain. Shall 
we resort to entreaty and humble supplication? What terms 
shall we find, which have not been already exhausted? Let 
us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive ourselves longer. Sir, 
we have done everything that could be done to avert the 
storm which is now coming on. We have petitioned; we 
have remonstrated ; we have supplicated ; we have prostrated 
ourselves before the throne, and have implored its inter- 
position to arrest the tyrannical hands of the Ministry and 
Parliament. Our petitions have been slighted; our remon- 
strances have produced additional violence and insult; our 
supplications have been disregarded; and we have been 



Oration — Deliberative 449 

spurned, with contempt, from the foot of the throne! In 
vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope of 
peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room for 
hope. If we wish to be free — if we mean to preserve inviolate 
those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long 
contending — if we mean not basely to abandon the noble 
struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which 
we have pledged ourselves never to abandon, until the glori- 
ous object of our contest shall be obtained — we must fight! 
I repeat it, sir, we must fight ! An appeal to arms and to the 
God of Hosts is all that is left us ! 

3. They tell us, sir, that we are weak ; unable to cope 
with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be 
stronger? Will it be the next week, or the next year? Will 
it be when we are totally disarmed, and when a British guard 
shall be stationed in every house? Shall we gather strength 
b}' irresolution and inaction? Shall we acquire the me^ns of 
effectual resistance by lying supinely on our backs and hug- 
ging the delusive phantom of hope, until our enemies shall 
have bound us hand and foot? 

4. Sir, we are not weak, if we make a proper use of those 
means which the God of nature hath placed in our power. 
Three millions of people, armed in the holy cause of Liberty, 
and in such a country as that which we possess, are invinci- 
ble by any force which our enemy can send against us. 
Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles alone. There 
is a just God, who presides over the destinies of nations, 
and who will raise up friends to fight our battles for us. 
The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone; it is to the vigi- 
lant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, we have no election. 
If we were base enough to desire it, it is now too late to 
retire from the contest. 

5. There is no retreat, but in submission and slavery ! 
Our chains are forged. Their clanking may be heard on 
the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable, — and let it 
come! — I repeat it, sir, let it come! It is vain, sir, to ex- 



450 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

tenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, peace! but 
there is no peace. The war is actually begun ! 

6. The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring 
to our ears the clash of resounding arms. Our brethren 
are already in the field. Why stand we here idle? What 
is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life 
so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of 
chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know 
not what course others may take; but as for me, give me 
liberty, or give me death! 



ORATION— DELIBERATIVE 

THE FALL OF ASSYRIA 

By Isaiah, Prophet and Orator. B. B.C. 760 (?), Judea; d. 
B.C. 700 (?), Judea. 

At the death of Sargon, King of Syria, in 705 B.C., all the 
subjugated kingdoms rose in revolt. Sennacherib, his successor, 
started to subdue them, beginning at Babylon; Jerusalem, in- 
stead of trusting in Jehovah, turned toward Egypt for help. 
Isaiah, discerning the danger, appeals to the Israelites to put 
their trust in Jehovah only. Isaiah XXXI. 

1. Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and 
stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are 
many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but 
they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the 
Lord ! 

2. Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil, and will not 
call back his words : but will arise against the house of the 
evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity. 

3. Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their 
horses flesh, and not spirit. When the Lord shall stretch 
out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is 
holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together. 

4. For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me, Like as the 
lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multi- 
tude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be 
afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them : 
so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for mount 
Zion, and for the hill thereof. 

5. As birds flying, so will the Lord of hosts defend 
Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing 
over he will preserve it. 

451 



452 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

6. Turn ye unto him from whom the children of Israel 
have deeply revolted. 

7. For in that day every man snail cast away his idols 
of silver, and his idols of gold, which your own hands have 
made unto you for a sin. 

8. Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a 
mighty man ; and the sword, not of a mean man, shall devour 
him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men 
shall be discomfited. 

9. And he shall pass over to his strong hold for fear, 
and his princes shall be afraid of the ensign, saith the 
Lord, whose fire is in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem. 



ORATORY— PULPIT 
THE EVIL THAT MEN DO LIVES AFTER THEM 

By Phillips Brooks, Bishop and Orator. B. 1835, Massa- 
chusetts; d. 1893, Massachusetts. 

This extract from a sermon of one of America's most emi- 
nent orators, is illustrative of his simple and artistic style and 
the accumulative power by which he made his thoughts effective. 

1. Tell me you have a sin that you mean to commit this 
evening that is going to make this night black. What can 
keep you from committing that sin? Suppose you look into 
its consequences. Suppose the wise man tells you what will 
be the physical consequences of that sin. You shudder and 
you shrink, and perhaps you are partially deterred. Sup- 
pose you see the glory that might come to you, physical, 
temporal, spiritual, if you do not commit that sin. The 
opposite of it shows itself to you — the blessing and the 
richness in your life. Again there comes a great power that 
shall control your lust and wickedness. Suppose there 
comes to you something even deeper than that, no conse- 
quence of conscience at all, but simply an abhorrence for the 
thing, so that your whole nature shrinks from it as the 
nature of God shrinks from a sin that is polluting, and 
filthy and corrupt and evil. 

2. They are all great powers. Let us thank God for 
them all. He knows that we are weak enough to need every 
power that can possibly be brought to bear upon our feeble 
lives ; but if, along with all of them, there could come this 
other power, if along with them there could come the cer- 
tainty that if you refrain from that sin to-night you make 
the sum of sin that is in the world, and so the sum of future 

453 



454 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

sin that is to spring out of temptation in the world, less, 
shall there not be a nobler impulse rise up in your heart, 
and shall you not say : "I will not do it ; I will be honest, I 
will be sober, I will be pure, at least, to-night?" I dare to 
think that there are' men here to whom that appeal can 
come, men who, perhaps, will be all dull and deaf if one 
speaks to them about their personal salvation; who, if one 
dares to picture to them, appealing to their better nature, 
trusting to their nobler soul, and there is in them the power 
to save other men from sin, and to help the work of God by 
the control of their own passions and the fulfillment of their 
own duty, will be stirred to the higher life. Men — very often 
we do not trust them enough — will answer to the higher 
appeal that seems to be beyond them when the poor, lower 
appeal that comes within the region of their selfishness is 
cast aside, and they will have nothing to do with it. 

3. Oh, this marvelous, this awful power that we have 
over other people's lives ! Oh, the power of the sin that you 
have done years and years ago ! It is awful to think of it. 
I think there is hardly anything more terrible to the human 
thought than this — the picture of a man who, having sinned 
years and years ago in a way that involved other souls in 
his sin, and then, having repented of his sin and undertaken 
another life, knows certainly that the power, the conse- 
quence of that sin is going on outside of his reach, beyond 
even his ken and knowledge. He cannot touch it. 

4. You wronged a soul ten years ago. You taught a boy 
how to tell his first mercantile lie; you degraded the early 
standards of his youth. What has become of that boy 
to-day? You may have repented. He has passed out of 
your sight. He has gone years and years ago. Somewhere 
in this great multitudinous mass of humanity he is sinning 
and sinning, and reduplicating and extending the sin that 
you did. You touched the faith of some believing soul years 
ago with some miserable sneer of yours, with some cynical 
and skeptical disparagement of Qod and of the man who is 



Oratory — Pulpit 455 

the utterance of God upon the earth. You taught the soul 
that was enthusiastic to be full of skepticisms and doubts. 
You cannot touch that life now. You cannot reach it. You 
do not know where it is. No steps of yours, quickened with 
all jour earnestness, can pursue it. No contrition of yours 
can draw back its consequences. Remorse cannot force the 
bullet back into the gun from which it once has gone forth. 

5. It makes life awful to the man who has ever sinned, 
who has ever wronged and hurt another life because of this 
sin, because no sin was ever done that did not hurt another 
life. I know the mercy of our God, that while he has put 
us into each other's power to a fearful extent, He never will 
let any soul absolutely go to everlasting ruin for another's 
sin ; and so I dare to see the love of God pursuing that lost 
soul where you cannot pursue it. But that does not for one 
moment lift the shadow from your heart, or cease to make 
you tremble when you think of how your sin has outgrown 
its'elf and is running far, far away where you can never 
follow it. 

6. Thank God the other living thing is true as well. 
Thank God that when a man does a bit of service, however 
little it may be, of that, too, he can never trace the conse- 
quences. Thank God that that which in some better mo- 
ment, in some nobler inspiration, you did ten years ago, to 
make your brother's faith a little more strong, to let your 
shop-boy confirm and not doubt the confidence in man 
which he had brought into his business, to establish the 
purity of a soul instead of staining it and shaking it, thank 
God, in this quick, electric atmosphere in which we live, that, 
too, runs forth. 



ORATION— DEMONSTRATIVE 
EULOGY OF HENRY WOODFEN GRADY 

By John Temple Graves, Journalist and Orator. B. 1856, 
South Carolina; now resides in New York City. 

This is an extract from the oration delivered at a Memorial 
meeting in Atlanta, Georgia, December 21, 1889- It has been 
pronounced by Henry Watterson and many other able critics 
as being the best eulogy of the century. 

1. I am one among the thousands who loved Henry 
Grady, and I stand among the millions who lament his death. 
I loved him in the promise of his glowing youth, when across 
my boyish vision he walked with winning grace from easy 
effort to success. I loved him in the flush of his splendid 
manhood, when a nation hung upon his words — and now I 
love him best of all as he lies under the December skies, with 
face as tranquil and with smile as sweet as patriarch ever 
wore. 

2. I agree with Patrick Collins that Henry Grady was 
the most brilliant son of the Republic; and I believe, if the 
annals of these times are told with truth, they will record 
him the phenomenon of his period. No eloquence has 
equalled his since Sargent Prentiss faded from the earth. 
No pen has plowed such noble furrows in his country's fal- 
low fields since the wrist of Horace Greely rested. No age 
of the Republic has witnessed such marvelous conjunction, 
of a magic pen with the splendor of a mellow tongue. I have 
loved to follow the pathway of that diamond pen as it flashed 
like an inspiration over every phase of life in Georgia. It 
touched the sick body of a despairing agriculture with the 
impulse of a better method. Its brave point went with cheer- 
ful prophecy and engaging manliness into the ranks of toil, 

456 



Oration — Demonstrative 457 

until the workman at his anvil felt the dignity of labor. Into 
the field of practical politics it dashed with the grace of an 
earlier chivalry, and in an age of pushing and unseemly 
scramble, it woke the spirit of a loftier sentiment; while 
around the charming pleader there grew up a company of 
youth linked to the Republic's nobler legends and holding 
fast that generous loyalty which builds the highest bulwark 
of the state. 

3. Long after he made his way to eminence and influence 
as a writer, he waked the power of that surpassing oratory, 
which has bettered all the sentiment of his country and en- 
riched the vocabulary of the world. Nothing in the history 
of human speech has ever equalled the stately stepping of 
his eloquence into glory. In a single night he caught the 
heart of his country and leaped from a banquet's gaiety into 
national fame. It is the crowning evidence of his genius 
that he held to the end, unbroken, the fame so easily won. 
And sweeping from triumph unto triumph, with not one leaf 
of his laurels withered by time or staled by circumstance — 
he died on yesterday, the foremost orator of all the world. 

4. I have seen the gleam from the headlight of some giant 
engine rushing onward through the darkness, heedless of 
opposition, fearless of danger ; and I thought it was grand. 
I have seen the light come over the eastern hills in glory, 
driving the lazy darkness before it, till leaf and tree and 
blade of grass glittered in the myriad diamonds of the morn- 
ing ray ; and I thought that was grand. I have seen the light 
that leaped at midnight athwart the storm-swept sky, shiver- 
ing over chaotic clouds, 'mid howling winds, till cloud and 
darkness and shadow-haunted earth flashed into mid-day 
splendor ; and I knew that was grand. 

5. But the grandest thing, next to the radiance that 
flows from the Almighty Throne, is the light of a noble and 
beautiful life, wrapping itself in benediction round the des- 
tinies of men, and finding its home in the bosom of the ever- 
lasting God. 



POLITICAL SPEECH 
IMPERIALISM 

By Hon. William Jennings ' Bryan, Statesman, Editor, and 
Orator. B. I860, Illinois; now resides in Nebraska. 

This is an extract from his reply to the Notification Commit- 
tee, accepting the nomination as the presidential candidate of 
the Democratic party, August 8, 1900. He sounded the key- 
note of a political doctrine whose echo is still reverberating in 
the ranks of national democracy. Though this excerpt is a good 
example of his style, it lacks the expression of the full, deep, 
round, pure tone and the personal magnetism that characterizes 
"the greatest living orator." 

1. The Democratic party is not making war upon the 
honest acquisition of wealth ; it has no desire to discourage 
industry, economy and thrift. On the contrary, it gives to 
every citizen the greatest possible stimulus to honest toil 
when it promises him protection in the enjoyment of the pro- 
ceeds of his labor. Property rights are most secure when 
human rights are most respected. Democracy strives for a 
civilization in which every member of society will share ac- 
cording to his merits. 

The principal arguments advanced by those who enter 
upon a defense of imperialism, are: 

First — That we must improve the present opportunity to 
become a world power and enter into international politics. 

Second — That our commercial interests in the Philippine 
Islands and in the Orient make it necesary for us to hold 
the islands permanently. 

Third — That the spread of the Christian religion will be 
facilitated by a colonial policy. 

Fourth — That there is no honorable retreat from the po- 

458 



Political Speech 459 

sition which the nation has taken. 

The first argument is addressed to the nation's pride, and 
the second to the nation's pocketbook. The third is in- 
tended for the church member and the fourth for the par- 
tisan. 

2. It is a sufficient answer to the first argument to say 
that for more than a century this nation has been a world 
power. For ten decades it has been the most potent influence 
in the world. Not only has it been a world power but it has 
done more to affect the politics of the human race than all 
the other nations of the world combined. Because our 
Declaration of Independence was promulgated, others have 
been promulgated. Because the patriots of 1776 fought for 
liberty, others have fought for it; because our Constitution 
was adopted, other constitutions have been adopted. The 
growth of the principle of self-government, planted on 
American soil, has been the overshadowing political fact of 
the nineteenth century. It has made this nation conspicuous 
among the nations and given it a place in history such as no 
other nation has ever enjoyed. Nothing has been able to 
check the onward march of this idea. I am not willing that 
this nation shall cast aside the omnipotent weapon of truth 
to seize again the weapon of physical warfare. I would not 
exchange the glory of this Republic for the glory of all the 
empires that have risen and fallen since time began. 

3. I can conceive of a national destiny surpassing the 
glories of the present and the past — a destiny which meets 
the responsibilities of to-day and measures up to the possi- 
bilities of the future. Behold a Republic resting securely 
upon the foundation stones quarried by revolutionary 
patriots from the mountain of eternal truth, a Republic ap- 
plying in practice and proclaiming to the world the self- 
evident proposition that all men are created equal; that they 
are endowed with inalienable rights ; that governments are 
instituted among men to secure these rights, and that gov- 
ernments derive their just powers from the consent of the 



460 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

governed. Behold a Republic in which civil and religious 
liberty stimulates all to earnest endeavors and in which the 
law restrains every hand uplifted for a neighbor's injury — a 
Republic in which every citizen is a sovereign, but in which 
no one cares to wear a crown. Behold a Republic standing 
erect while empires all around are bowed beneath the weight 
of their own armaments — a Republic whose flag is loved 
while other flags are only feared. Behold a Republic in- 
creasing in population, in wealth, in strength and in in- 
fluence, solving the problems of civilization and hastening 
the coming of an universal brotherhood — a Republic which 
shakes thrones and dissolves aristocracies by its silent ex- 
ample and gives light and inspiration to those who sit in 
darkness. Behold a Republic gradually, but surely, becom- 
ing the supreme moral factor in the world's progress and 
the accepted arbiter of the world's disputes — a Republic 
whose history, like the path of the just, "is as the shining 
light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." 



POLITICAL SPEECH 
A PLUMED KNIGHT 

By Robert Green Ingersoll, Lecturer and Orator. B. 1833, 
New York; d. 1899, New York. 

Adapted from a speech nominating Blaine for President in 
the Republican National Convention at Cincinnati, Ohio, June 
15, 1876. 

1. The Republicans of the United States demand as their 
leader in this great contest of 1876 a man of intelligence, a 
man of integrity, a man of well-known and approved politi- 
cal opinions. They demand a statesman. They demand a 
politician in the highest, broadest, and best sense, a man of 
superb moral courage. They demand a man who knows that 
prosperity and resumption, when they come, must come to- 
gether; that when they come, they will come hand in hand 
through the golden harvest fields ; hand in hand by the 
whirling spindles and the turning wheels ; hand in hand past 
the open furnace doors ; hand in hand by the flaming gorges ; 
hand in hand by the chimneys filled with eager fire, greeted 
and grasped by the countless sons of toil. 

%. The Republicans of the United States want a man who 
knows that this government should protect every citizen at 
home and abroad; who knows that any government that will 
not defend its defenders and protect its protectors, is a dis- 
grace to the map of the world. They demand a man who 
believes in the eternal separation and divorcement of church 
and school. They demand a man whose political reputation 
is spotless, crowned with the vast and marvelous achieve- 
ments of its first century, this nation asks for a man worthy 
of the past and prophetic of the future ; asks for a man who 

461 



462 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

4 

has the audacity of genius ; asks for a man who has the grand- 
est combination of heart, conscience, and brain beneath her 
flag. Such a man is James G. Blaine. 

3. This is a grand year ; a year filled with the recollec- 
tions of the Revolution, filled with proud and tender mem- 
ories of the past, with the sacred legends of liberty; a year 
in which the sons of freedom will drink from the fountains of 
enthusiasm; a year in which the people will call for a man 
who has preserved in Congress what our soldiers won upon 
the field; a year in which we call for the man who has torn 
from the throat of treason the tongue of slander; . . . for 
the man who, like an intellectual athlete, has stood in the 
arena of debate and challenged all comers, and who, up to 
the present moment, is a total stranger to defeat. 

4. Like an armed warrior, like a plumed knight, James 
G. Blaine marched down the halls of the American Congress 
and threw his shining lance full and fair against the brazen 
foreheads of the defamers of his country and the maligners 
of his honor. For the Republicans to desert this gallant 
leader now is as though an army should desert their general 
upon the field of battle. 

5. James G. Blaine is now, and has been for years, the 
bearer of the sacred standard of the Republican party. I 
call it sacred, because no human being can stand beneath its 
folds without becoming and without remaining free. 

6. Gentlemen of the convention, in the name of the great 
Republic, the only republic that ever existed upon this 
earth; in the name of all her defenders and of all her sup- 
porters ; in the name of all her soldiers living; in the name of 
all her soldiers dead upon the field of battle ; and in the name 
of those who perished in the skeleton clutch of famine at 
Andersonville and Libby, whose sufferings he so vividly re- 
members, Illinois — Illinois nominates for the next President 
of this country that prince of parliamentarians, that leader 
of leaders, James G. Blaine. 



SHORT ADDRESS 
WORK 

By John Ruskin, Art Critic, Author and Lecturer. B. 1819, 
London, England; d. 1900, England. 

This is an extract from an address delivered before the 
Working Men's Institute, at Camberwell, England, January 
24, 1865. The entire lecture should be read. It may be found 
in his book, The Crown of Wild Glive. 

1. It is physically impossible for a well-educated, intel- 
lectual, or brave man to make money the chief object of his 
thoughts ; as physically impossible as it is for him to make 
his dinner the principal object of them. All healthy people 
like their dinners, but their dinner is not the main object of 
their lives. So all healthily minded people like making 
money» — ought to like it, and to enjoy the sensation of win- 
ning it; but the main object of their life is not money; it is 
something better than money. 

£. A good soldier, for instance, mainly wishes to do his 
fighting well. He is glad of his pay — very properly so, and 
justly grumbles when you keep him ten years without it; 
still, his main notion of life is to win battles, not to be paid 
for winning them. 

3. So of doctors. They like fees no doubt — ought to 
like them ; yet if they are brave and well educated, the entire 
object of their lives is not fees. They, on the whole, desire 
to cure the sick; and — if they are good doctors, and the 
choice were fairly put to them — would rather cure their 
patient and lose their fee than kill him and get it. And so 
with all other brave and rightly trained men ; their work is 
first, their fee second; very important always, but still 

463 



464 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

second. 

4. But in every nation, as I said, there are a vast class 
who are cowardly, and more or less stupid. And with these 
people, just as certainly the fee is first and the work second, 
as with brave people the work is first and the fee second. 

5. And this is no small distinction. It is the whole dis- 
tinction in a man. You cannot serve two masters ; you must 
serve one or other. If your work is first with you, and your 
fee second, work is your master. 

6. Observe then, all wise work is mainly threefold in char- 
acter. It is honest, useful, and cheerful. I hardly know 
anything more strange than that you recognize honesty in 
play, and you do not in work. In your lightest games you 
have always some one to see what you call "fair play." In 
boxing, you must hit fair; in racing, start fair. Your 
watchword is fair play ; your hatred, foul play. Did it ever 
strike you that you wanted another watchword also, fair 
work, and another hatred also, foul work? 



SHORT ADDRESS 
A MESSAGE TO GARCIA 

By Elbert Hubbard, Author and Lecturer. B. 1850, Illinois; 
d. 1915 in the sinking of the Lusitania. 

The following is an excerpt from an article in the Philistine 
of March, 1899- Mr. Hubbard, himself, tells how he came to 
write the article. 

"A Message to Garcia was written one evening after supper, 
in a single hour. It was the 22nd of February, 1899, Washing- 
ton's Birthday, and we were just going to press with the March 
Philistine. The thing leaped hot from my heart, written after 
a rather trying day, when I had been endeavoring to train some 
rather delinquent helpers in the way they should go. 

The immediate suggestion, though, came from a little argu- 
ment over the tea-cups when my son Bert suggested that Rowan 
was the real hero of the Cuban war. Rowan had gone alone 
and done the thing — carried the message to Garcia. It came 
to me like a flash! Yes, the boy was right; the hero is the man 
who does the thing — does his work — carries the message. I got 
up from the table and wrote A Message to Garcia." 

The New York Railways Company ordered a million copies 
to be distributed among its employees. It has appeared in 200 
magazines and newspapers, been translated into eleven different 
languages, and has had a circulation of over 22,000,000 copies. 

In the delivery of this selection bear in mind that it is a 
straight-from-the-shoulder, business-like talk. Note the transi- 
tions that occur at the beginning of paragraphs three and four. 
The last sentence in paragraph two furnishes a splendid exam- 
ple of subordination in emphasis. The third paragraph works 
up to a strong climax. The succeeding two paragraphs present 
the other side of the question, then follows in the last paragraph 
a strong appeal which should be delivered with sustained force. 

1. When war broke out between Spain and the United 
States, it was very necessary to communicate quickly with 

465 



4<66 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

the leader of the Insurgents. Garcia was somewhere in the 
mountain fastnesses of Cuba — no one knew where. No mail 
or telegraph message could reach him. The president must 
secure his co-operation, and quickly. What to do ! 

2. Some one said to the President, "There's a fellow by 
the name of Rowan will find Garcia for you if anybody can." 
Rowan was sent for and given a letter to be delivered to 
Garcia. How "the fellow by the name of Rowan" took the 
letter, sealed it up in an oilskin pouch, strapped it over his 
heart, in four days landed by night off the coast of Cuba 
from an open boat, disappeared into the jungle, and in three 
weeks came out on the other side of the island, having 
traversed a hostile country on foot, and delivered his letter 
to Garcia, are things I have no special desire now to tell in 
detail. 

3. The point I wish to make is this: McKinley gave 
Rowan a letter to be delivered to Garcia ; Rowan took the 
letter and did not ask, "Where is he at?" By the Eternal! 
there is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze 
and the statue placed in every college of the land. It is not 
book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this 
and that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause 
them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate 
their energies ; do the thing — "Carry a message to Garcia !" 

4. General Garcia is dead now, but there are other Gar- 
cias. No man who has endeavored to carry out an enterprise 
where many hands were needed, but has been well-nigh ap- 
palled at times by the imbecility of the average marn — the 
inability or unwillingness to concentrate on a thing and do 
it. Slip-shod assistance, foolish inattention, dowdy indif- 
ference, and half-hearted work seem the rule; and no man 
succeeds, unless by hook or crook, or threat, he forces or 
bribes other men to assist him ; or mayhap, God in His good- 
ness performs a miracle, and sends him an angel of light 
for an assistant. 

5. And this incapacity for independent action, this 



Short Address 467 

moral stupidity, this infirmity of the will, this unwillingness 
to cheerfully catch hold and lift, are the things that put 
pure socialism so far into the future. If men will not act for 
themselves, what will they do when the benefit of their effort 
is for all? 

6. My heart goes out to the man who does his work when 
the "boss" is away, as well as when he is at home. And the 
man, who, when given a letter for Garcia, quietly takes the 
missive, without asking any idiotic questions, and with no 
lurking intention of chucking it into the nearest sewer, or 
of doing aught else but deliver it, never gets "laid off," nor 
has to go on a strike for higher wages. Civilization is one 
long anxious search for just such individuals. Anything 
such a man asks shall be granted ; his kind is so rare that 
no employer can afford to let him go. He is wanted in every 
city, town, and village — in every office, shop, store, and 
factory. The world cries out for such ; he is* needed and 
needed badly — the man who can carry a message to Garcia. 



AFTER DINNER SPEECH 
THE TYPICAL DUTCHMAN 

By Henry Jackson Van Dyke, Clergyman, Educator and 
Author. B. 1852, Pennsylvania; now resides in New York. 

This speech was delivered at a banquet of the Holland So- 
ciety in New York City, January 10, 1890. 

Deliver in a light conversational tone, with deep modulations, 
with interest and animation. 

1. Mr. President and Members of the Holland Society: 
Who is the typical Dutchman? Rembrandt, the splendid 
artist; Erasmus, the brilliant scholar; Coster, the inventor 
of printing; Leeuenhock, the profound scientist; Grotius, 
the great lawyer; Barendz, the daring explorer; DeWitt, the 
skillful statesman ; -Van Tromp, the trump of admirals ; Wil- 
liam the Silent, heroic defender of liberty against a world of 
tyranny; William III., the emancipator of England, whose 
firm, peaceful hand, just two centuries ago, set the Anglo- 
Saxon race free to fulfil its mighty destiny — what hero, 
artist, philosopher, discoverer, lawgiver, admiral, general or 
monarch shall we choose from the long list of Holland's 
illustrious dead to stand as the typical Dutchman? 

£. Nay, not one of these men, famous as they were, can 
fill the pedestal of honor. For though their glorious 
achievements have lent an undying lustre to the name of 
Holland, the qualities that really created her and made her 
great, lifted her in triumph from the sullen sea, massed her 
inhabitants like a living bulwark against oppression, filled 
her cities with the light of learning and her homes with the 
arts of peace, covered the ocean with her ships and the 
islands with her colonies — the qualities that made Holland 

468 



After Dinner Speech 469 

great were the qualities of the common people. The ideal 
character of the Dutch race is not an exceptional genius, 
but a plain, brave, straightforward, kind-hearted, liberty- 
loving, law-abiding citizen — a man with a healthy con- 
science, a good digestion and a cheerful determination to do 
his duty in the sphere of life to which God has called him. 
Let me try to etch the portrait of such a man in few and 
simple lines. Grant me but six strokes for the picture. 

3. The typical Dutchman is an honest man, and that's 
the noblest work of God. Physically he may be, and if he 
attends these dinners he probably will be, more or less round. 
But morally he must be square. And surely in this age of 
sham, when there is so much plated ware that passes itself 
off for solid silver, and so much work done at half measure 
and charged at full price, so many doctors who buy diplo- 
mas, and lawyers whose names should be Necessity, because 
they know no law, and preachers who insist on keeping in 
their creeds doctrines which they do not profess to believe — - 
surely in this age, in which skyrockets are so plentiful and 
well-seasoned firewood is so scarce, the man who is most 
needed is not the genius, the discoverer, the brilliant sayer 
of new things, but simply the honest man, who speaks the 
truth, pays his debts, does his work thoroughly, and is satis- 
fied with what he has earned. 

4. The typical Dutchman is a free man. Liberty is his 
passion, and has been since the days of Leyden and Alk- 
maar. It runs in the blood. A descendant of the old Bata- 
vian who fought against Rome is bound to be free at any 
cost ; he hates tyranny in every form. 

I honor the man who is willing to sink 
Half his present repute for the freedom to think; 
And when he has thought, be his cause strong or weak, 
Will sink t'other half for the freedom to speak, 
Caring naught for what vengeance the mob has in store, 
Let that mob be the upper ten thousand, or lower. 



470 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

5. This is the spirit of the typical Dutchman. Never 
has it been more needed than it is to-day ; to guard our land 
against the oppression of the plutocrat on the one hand, and 
the demagogue on the other hand; to prevent a government 
of the parties by the bosses for the spoils ; and to preserve a 
government of the people, by the people, for the people. 

6. The typical Dutchman is a prudent man. He will be 
free to choose for himself; but he generally chooses to do 
nothing rash. He does not admire those movements which 
are like the Chinaman's description of the toboggan slide, 
"Whiz ! Walk a mile !" He prefers a one-story ground rent 
to a twelve-story mortgage with an elevator. He has a 
constitutional aversion to unnecessary risks. In society, in 
philosophy, in commerce, he sticks to the old way until he 
knows that the new one is better. On the train of progress 
he usually sits in the middle car, sometimes in the smoker, 
but never on the cow-catcher. And yet he arrives at his 
destination all the same. 

7. The typical Dutchman is a devout man. He could 
not respect himself if he did not reverence God. Religion 
was at the center of Holland's most glorious life, and it is 
impossible to understand the sturdy heroism and cheerful 
industry of our Dutch forefathers without remembering that 
whether they ate or drank or labored or prayed or fought 
or sailed or farmed, they did all to the glory of God. The 
only difference between New Amsterdam and New England 
was this: the Puritans founded a religious community with 
commercial principles ; the Dutchman founded a commer- 
cial community with religious principles. Which was the 
better I do not say; but every one knows which was the 
happier to live in. 

8. The typical Dutchman is a liberal man. He believes, 
but he does not persecute. He says, to the immortal words 
of William III, "Conscience is God's province." So it came 
to pass that New Amsterdam became an asylum for the op- 
pressed in the New World, as old Amsterdam had been in 



After Dinner Speech 471 

the Old \yorld. No witches burned; no Quakers flogged; 
peace and fair chances for everybody; love God as much as 
you can, and don't forget to love your neighbor as yourself. 
How excellent the character in which piety and charity are 
j oined ! 

9. But one more stroke remains to be added to the pic- 
ture. The typical Dutchman is a man of few words. Per- 
haps I ought to say he was; for in this talkative age, even in 
the Holland Society, a degenerate speaker will forget him- 
self so far as not to keep silence when he talks about the 
typical Dutchman. But those old companions who came 
to this country previous to the year 1675, as Dutch citi- 
zens, under the Dutch flag, and holding their tongues in the 
Dutch language, — ah, they understood their business. Their 
motto was facta non verba. They are the men we praise 
to-night in our song of The Typical Dutchman: 

They sailed from the shores of the Zuider Zee 

Across the stormy ocean, 
To build the world a new country 

According to their notion ; 
A land where thought should be free as air, 

And speech be free as water ; 
Where man to man should be just and fair, 
And law be liberty's daughter. 
They were brave and kind, 
And of simple mind, 
And the world has need of such men ; 
So we say with pride 
(On our father's side), 
They were typical Dutchmen. . . . 

They held their faith without defense, 
And said their prayers on Sunday; 

But they never could see a bit of sense 
In burning a witch on Monday. 



472 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

They loved their God with a love so true, 

And with a head so level, 
That they could afford to love men too, 
And not be afraid of the devil. 

They kept their creed 

In word and deed, 
And the world has need of such men ; 

So we say with pride 

(On our father's side), 
They were typical Dutchmen. 



ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS 
A VISION OF WAR 

By Col. Robert Green Ingersoll, Lecturer and Orator. B. 
1833, New York; d. 1899, New York. 

This extract is taken from an address delivered at the Me- 
morial Celebration of the Grand Army of the Republic, held 
at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York City, May -30, 
1888. 

Col. Ingersoll was a soldier in the Civil War and had risen 
to the rank of colonel when captured. He knew what war is. 
Read quietly and deliberately; aim to make the audience see 
the picture. 

1. The past rises before me like a dream. Again we are 
in the great struggle for national life. We are with the 
soldiers when they enlist in the great army of freedom. We 
see them part with those they love. Some are walking for 
the last time in quiet, woody places, with the maidens they 
adore. Others are bending over cradles, kissing babes that 
are asleep. Some are receiving the blessings of old men. 
Some are parting with mothers who hold them and press 
them to their hearts again and again, and say nothing. And 
some are talking with wives, and endeavoring with brave 
words, spoken in the old tones, to drive from their hearts 
the awful fear. We see them part. We see the wife stand- 
ing in the door with the babe in her arms — standing in the 
sunlight sobbing. At the turn of the road a hand waves ; 
she answers by holding high in her loving arms the child. He 
is gone, and forever. 

£. We see them all as they march proudly away under 
the flaunting flags, keeping time to the grand, wild music 
of war — through the towns and across the prairies — down 

473 



474 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

to the fields of glory, to do and to die for the eternal right. 

3. We go with them, one and all. We are by their side 
on all the gory fields — in all the hospitals of pain — on all the 
weary marches. We stand guard with them in the wild 
storm and under the quiet stars. We are with them in 
ravines running with blood, in the furrows of old fields. 
We are with them between contending hosts, unable to move, 
wild with thirst, the life ebbing slowly away among the with- 
ered leaves. We see them pierced by balls and torn with 
shells, in the trenches, by forts, and in the whirlwind of the 
charge, where men become iron, with nerves of steel. 

4. We are at home when the news comes that they are 
dead. We see the maiden in the shadow of her first sorrow. 
We see the silvered head of the old man bowed with the last 
grief. 

5. These heroes are dead. They died for liberty; they 
died for us. They are at rest. They sleep in the land they 
made free, under the flag they rendered stainless. Earth 
may run red with other wars ; they are at peace. In the 
midst of battle, in the roar of conflict, they found the seren- 
ity of death. I have one sentiment for soldiers, living and 
dead — cheers for the living, tears for the dead. 



DEDICATION ADDRESS 
GETTYSBURG ADDRESS 

By Abraham Lincoln, Statesman and President of the United 
States. B. 1809, Kentucky; d. 1865, Washington, D. C. 

The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 13, 1863, between 
the Union forces under General Meade and the Confederate 
forces under General Lee. 

November 19, 1863, at the dedication of the cemetery in which 
those killed in this battle were buried, President Lincoln deliv- 
ered this memorable address. 

This brief address has been pronounced the greatest oration 
given in America. For clearness, brevity, and strength, it has 
never been equaled. Students in reading this selection seldom 
get into the spirit of the occasion. The movement is very slow, 
the inflection and emphasis very pronounced. The first para- 
graph is predominatingly intellectual; the second, emotional; 
the third, volitional. Emphasize the many contrasted words 
and phrases. In the first paragraph note especially such words 
as: new nation, all, equal, that nation, any nation, so conceived, 
so dedicated. In the second: that nation, live, fitting, proper, 
cannot, our, we say, they do. In the third: us, unfinished work, 
new birth of freedom, of the people, by the people, for the 
people, not perish. 

1. Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought 
forth upon this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, 
and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created 
equal. Now, we are engaged in a great civil war, testing 
whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so 
dedicated, can long endure. 

£. We are met on a battlefield of that war ; we have come 
to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for 
those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. 
It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 

475 



476 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot con- 
secrate, we cannot hallow this ground ; the brave men, living 
and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far be- 
yond our poor power to add or detract. The world will 
little note nor long remember what we say here; but it can 
never forget what they did here. 

3. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to 
the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus 
far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedi- 
cated to the great task remaining before us ; that from 
these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause 
for which they gave the last full measure of devotion ; that 
we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in 
vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth 
of freedom; and that government of the people, by the 
people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth. 




ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

From a Statue at the Entrance of Lincoln Park, Chicago 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

By Woodrow Wilson, Author, Statesman, and President of 
the United States. B. 1856, Virginia. 

This extract is about one-half of his inaugural address deliv- 
ered at Washington, D. C., March 4, 1913. It had been 20 
years since a Democratic president had taken the oath of this 
high office. This address is remarkable for its high literary 
merit as well as its sound principles of government. 

1. There has been a great change of government. It 
began two years ago, when the House of Representatives 
became Democratic by a decisive majority. It has now been 
completed. The Senate about to assemble will also be Dem- 
ocratic. The offices of President and Vice-President have 
been put into the hands of Democrats. What does the 
change mean? That is the question that is uppermost in 
our minds to-day. That is the question I am going to try 
to answer, in order, if I may, to .interpret the occasion. 

7F V if? vf? 7ff *F 

2. We see in many things that life is very great. 
It is incomparably great in its material aspects, in its body 
of wealth, in the diversity and sweep of its energy, in the 
industries which have been conceived and built up by the 
genius of individual men and the limitless enterprise of 
groups of men. It is great also, very great, in its moral 
force. Nowhere else in the world have noble men and women 
exhibited in more striking forms the beauty and the energy 
of sympathy and helpfulness and counsel in their efforts to 
rectify wrong, alleviate suffering, and set the weak in the 
way of strength and hope. We have built up, moreover, a 
great system of government, which has stood through a long 
age as in many respects a model for those who seek to set 

477 



478 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

liberty upon foundations that will endure against fortuitous 
change, against storm and accident. Our life contains every 
great thing and contains it in rich abundance. 

3. But the evil has come with the good, and much fine 

gold has been corroded. With riches has come inexcusable 

waste. We have squandered a great part of what we might 

have used, and have not stopped to conserve the exceeding 

bounty of nature, without which our genius for enterprise 

would have been worthless and impotent, scorning to be 

careful, shamefully prodigal as well as admirably efficient. 

We have been proud of our industrial achievements, but we 

have not hitherto stopped thoughtfully enough to count 

the human cost, the cost of lives snuffed out, of energies 

overtaxed and broken, the fearful physical and spiritual 

cost to the men and women and children upon whom the 

dead weight and burden of it all has fallen pitilessly the 

years through. The groans and agony of it all had not yet 

reached our ears, the solemn, moving undertone of our life, 

coming up out of the mines and factories and out of every 

home where the struggle had its intimate and familiar seat. 

With the great government went many deep secret things 

which we too long delayed to look into and scrutinize with 

candid, fearless eyes. The great government we loved has 

too often been made use of for private and selfish purposes, 

and those who used it had forgotten the people. 

* * * * , * * * 

4. This 'is the high enterprise of the new day: to lift 
everything that concerns our life as a nation to the light 
that shines from the hearth-fire of every man's conscience 
and vision of the right. It is inconceivable that we should 
do this as partisans; it is inconceivable we should do it in 
ignorance of the facts as they are or in blind haste. We 
shall restore, not destroy; we shall deal with our economic 
system as it is and as it may be modified, not as it might 
be if we had a clean sheet of paper to write upon ; and step 
by step we shall make it what it should be, in the spirit of 



Inaugural Address 479 

those who question their own wisdom and seek counsel and 
knowledge, not shallow self-satisfaction or the excitement 
of excursions whither they cannot tell. Justice, and only 
justice, shall always be our motto. 

5. And yet it will be no cool process of mere science. 
The nation has been deeply stirred, stirred by a solemn 
passion, stirred by the knowledge of wrong, of ideals lost, 
of government too often debauched and made an instru- 
ment of evil. The feelings with which we face this new age 
of right and opportunity sweep across our heartstrings like 
some air out of God's own presence, where justice and mercy 
are reconciled and the judge and the brother are one. We 
know our task to be no mere task of politics but a task 
which shall search us through and through, whether we be 
able to understand our time and the need of our people, 
whether we be indeed their spokesmen and interpreters, 
whether we have the pure heart to comprehend and the rec- 
tified will to choose our high course of- action. 

6. This is not a day of triumph ; it is a day of dedica- 
tion. Here muster, not the forces of party, but the forces 
of humanity. Men's hearts wait upon us ; men's lives hang 
in the balance; men's hopes call upon us to say what we 
will do. Who shall live up to the great trust? Who dares 
fail to try? I summon all honest men, all patriotic, all 
forward-looking men, to my side. God helping me, I will 
not fail them, if they will but counsel and sustain me ! 



ORATION-CONTEST 
THE FIELD OF CONFLICT 

By James F. Rippy of Richardson, Texas, representing 
Southwestern University in the Annual State Oratorical con- 
test. This oration was delivered April 18, 1913, at Georgetown, 
Texas, Mr. Rippy winning first place. 

1. Men had observed for countless epochs only the stars 
of the first magnitude. Aware of no others, they attributed 
to them all the brilliancy of the firmament. But in the 
seventeenth century an Italian invented the telescope, and, 
turning this instrument upon the heavens, men were as- 
tounded to discover far out in ethereal space, millions of 
other lights. For ages they had shone, forever mingling 
their rays with those of their visible companions, yet for- 
ever unseen by the eye of man. So when the historian first 
turned to the annals of his race, he saw there nothing but 
the deeds of those who, like the nearer stars, are most vis- 
ible. They founded kingdoms and religions, they forged 
revolutions, they worked reformations, they produced liter- 
ature. But modern historians are beginning to realize that 
back of kings, generals, poets, and prophets are the com- 
mon people, the great host of hitherto invisible stars. In 
them historical cause and effect has its seat, the march of 
events its origin, the development of institutions its growth, 
the stream of literature its fountain. They are the great, 
calm, silent, eternal ocean; the leaders are but the waves 
borne upon its bosom. By virtue of some accidental en- 
dowment or special opportunity the individual may rise 
above his fellows, but the greater part of his character is 
but the embodiment of the traits, ideas and aspirations of 

480 



Oration-Contest 481 

the commoners surrounding him. The life of the people is 
the soil on which the individual grows ; when that soil be- 
comes poisoned or infertile, he inevitably withers and dies. 

2. Yet there has always been a tendency for those ele- 
vated above the common level to form combinations whose 
members consider themselves superior to the common people 
and treat them with contempt. This has been the age-long 
conflict — that of the few standing out. for falsely asserted 
prerogatives and privileges against the many seeking to es- 
tablish the rights of the multitude. The achievement of civil 
equality has required centuries of struggle. The demand 
for human rights was heard but faintly in the oppressed 
lands of Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, and Cyrus. It rang 
out more distinctly among the hills of Greece and in the 
valleys of the Tiber and the Rhine. It forced itself upon 
the dull ear of King John, and Cromwell heard it above 
the stormy debate of England's Parliament. It echoed and 
re-echoed through the dreams of Rousseau. It sang to the 
lofty soul of Washington while among the tattered and 
snow-clad tents of Valley Forge, and the herald who an- 
nounced him victor at Yorktown proclaimed the young na- 
tion of the West the champion of civil liberty and equality. 

3. But those who searched the misty horizon for gleams 
of a coming Utopia might have seen rolling up in the far 
distance another cloud. The struggle was to be renewed in 
another form, and the battleground of the American and 
the Englishman was to become the Field of Conflict where 
oppressed Toil should grapple with predatory Wealth. The 
captains of finance began to seize and control our indus- 
tries. They sank shafts into the plains and bubbling streams 
of petroleum poured forth. They built furnaces upon the 
mountain sides and laid the foundation for modern iron- 
works. From the bowels of the earth they drew forth fabu- 
lous treasures of useful and precious ores. They threaded 
the continent with telegraphs and gigantic systems of rail- 
ways, and to-day these men own one-sixth of the wealth of 



482 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

the Union. 

4. True, the benefits of this industrial development are 
not to be overlooked. A century and a half ago we were a 
few agricultural colonies, fringing the Atlantic Coast; now 
we have expanded into a world power almost without a peer 
among the nations ; and for our commercial prestige we are 
greatly indebted to the remarkable efficiency of modern cor- 
porations and to the energy and ability of these captains of 
industry who have developed our vast resources and made 
us great in the business world. 

5. But while we glory in our wealth as a nation and 
marvel at the genius of our lords of industry we cannot fail 
to see the oppression of the common people resulting from 
this system. Unfortunately the constant tendency in this 
country has been not toward the equitable distribution, but 
the stead}' concentration of wealth. In a century the wealth 
of our country has increased a hundred fold, but the labor- 
ing classes, constituting one-half of our population, own 
practically nothing. While seventy per cent of our people 
own no property, two per cent possess two-thirds of our 
country's wealth. We have four thousand millionaires each 
of whom could buy out eight thousand average American 
families and still have left two hundred thousand dollars. 
Five of our largest corporations according to their own re- 
ports, receive annually more than one-half of the entire 
earnings of this country; and before fifty million laborers 
can share a cent in the other half of those earnings two 
hundred smaller trusts must subtract handsome profits. If 
this process of concentration continues for twenty years 
more, we shall have ten or fifteen men owning more than half 
of America ! 

6. These sons of Fortune, considering themselves of finer 
clay than their less favored fellows, are beginning to look 
upon them with contempt. A broad chasm runs through 
our social world. Already we have the brown stone front 
and the tenement with an impassable line of cleavage be- 



Oration-Contest 483 

tween. In the East the aristocrats of wealth are withdraw- 
ing their sons and daughters to private academies and leav- 
ing the public schools to the commoners. The barber's wife 
scorns the servant girl, and in turn is snubbed by the wives 
of the lawyer and the banker who sigh in vain for member- 
ship among the exclusive four hundred. Even Christians, 
professing to follow Him who brought a ringing mesage of 
the brotherhood of man, cannot worship at the same altar ; 
one class meets at First Church, the other at Five Points 
Mission. 

7. Society is separating into two extremes and the mid- 
dle class is being eliminated. At one extreme are palaces be- 
girt with trees, flowers, and fountains : there are automo- 
biles, cushioned pews, books, pictures, and opportunity for 
travel; there are pleasure, success, and ease. At the other 
extreme is a shanty on the marsh, a box-like room in the 
tenement, "the darkened chamber of Labor that only rises 
to toil and lies down to rest." It is lifted by no inspira- 
tion and mellowed by no comfort. To those dwelling there, 
life means defeat, a glittering prize held forever beyond the 
reach, an ever unsatisfied hunger of the soul. If perchance 
they turn their eyes to the cradle in search of hope, they are 
cruelly flung back into the bitterness of their despair. For 
the wheels of industry are slowly, mercilessly grinding away 
the bodies of their tender boys and girls ; and when their 
shattered forms break down beneath the strain, when their 
cramped fingers no longer obey the will or their eyes so 
long accustomed to the dark, no longer can see, they are 
thrust out upon the world, mental and moral wrecks, or 
frail, tiny cripples. 

8. Such are the astounding results of the rule of gold 
— and the plutocrats of wealth are seeking ever wider do- 
minion. With golden keys they are unlocking the temple 
of justice and swerving the law from its true course. With 
a haughtiness that knows no bounds they are becoming law- 
makers in our congress and gaining privileges and powers 



484 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

with which they throttle the nation's industries. Even the 
right of free ballot, the only safeguard of the laborer, is 
being broken down. What protection is the ballot to a man 
whose circumstances are so desperate that he may be forced 
to vote as the employer dictates by the mere threat of los- 
ing his job? We hear freedom proclaimed from the house- 
tops. But we ask what freedom have those unemployed 
thousands roaming the streets of our cities or sitting in 
cheerless, comfortless homes? Would not every one of them 
willingly work for half a wage or surrender himself to life- 
long corporation servitude, if only thereby he could earn a 
living for the little ones at home or lighten the sorrow of the 
woman whom he swore to love and protect? Is this free- 
dom? It was such conditions that led President Woodrow 
Wilson recently to declare America the "foster-child of spe- 
cial interests," and it was such conditions that moved Presi- 
dent JrTadley of Yale to prophesy that, unless the people 
were aroused to a control of the trusts, in a few years we 
shall have at Washington an emperor appointed by the 
money barons instead of a President of the people! 

9. These are the grave evils that confront us and 
threaten our very existence. In behalf of her priceless trea- 
sure, the great body of common people whose hopes and 
energies are being blasted and dissipated; in behalf of thou- 
sands of her children who are being dwarfed and distorted 
by perpetual toil and corrupted by every form of vice and 
moral uncleanness ; in behalf of freedom and democracy 
themselves, our country cries out for our service. With 
outstretched hands she appeals to the vigor and enthusiasm 
of her educated men. Shall our ears be deaf to her call? 
The eradication of this evil rests largely with us. We can 
not escape it ; we owe it to ourselves, to our posterity and to 
the memory of those who sacrificed everything that we might 
have liberty. The bones of the brave heroes who fell in the 
bloody struggle for political freedom lie mingled with the 



Oration-Contest 485 

soil of every state from New England to Georgia. May 
their noble sacrifice not be in vain. With all the strength 
of our manhood, let us throw ourselves into the struggle for 
social and industrial freedom and equality. Let us arouse 
the public conscience and mould an enlighted public opinion. 
Let us teach men that child labor, industrial accidents, re- 
bating, and all methods used to thwart the law must be 
regarded in the same light as thievery and homicide, that 
the frock-coated criminal in his gilded palace is no less 
guilty than the slinking burglar. And then, when the con- 
science of the nation has been aroused and its opinions 
formed, let us crystallize all into a concrete program of 
righteous laws and place behind them sufficient honesty and 
moral courage to insure their enforcement. 

10. We do not expect this social reform to be accom- 
plished in a day. Like all reforms, it will be the result only 
of a slow process of evolution. But with undaunted opti- 
mism, we believe success shall be the sure reward of tireless 
effort. Lifting our eyes to the field of conflict, we observe, 
even now, signs portending the dawn of a brighter era. The 
passage of improved labor laws and the prosecution of 
trusts, the adoption of income and inheritance taxes and, 
in fact, a long series of successful industrial and social re- 
forms, climaxed by the overwhelming victory of a powerful 
friend of the people in a race for the highest office of the 
Republic — these are no uncertain omens. The Galilean Car- 
penter, born in a manger, addressed his message not to the 
rich and powerful; He prepared a feast of beautiful and 
simple truth, of perfect purity of heart, of charity and the 
brotherhood of man; then He invited the despised and op- 
pressed, the weary, haggard and uncouth sons of toil, to 
come and partake of that feast. Slowly, steadily, we believe 
society is being permeated by this teaching. Then, when 
such a spirit has transformed the hearts of mankind, Amer- 
ica's captains of industry will not indeed be destroyed, but 
they will be impelled to wield their power in the spirit of the 



486 Oral Readmg and Public Speaking 

law of love; and the common people, the source of her 
wealth, the seat and bulwark of her government, the nurse 
of her heroes, the basis of her civilization, shall be truly 
honored. 



PUBLIC LECTURE 
TEMPERANCE ADDRESS 

By John Bartholomew Gough, Lecturer and Orator. B. 1817, 
England; d. 1886, Pennsylvania. 

The following is an excerpt from an address delivered at 
Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass., September 17, I860. 

1. I stand before you, ladies and gentlemen, to-night, 
as a trophy of the temperance movement. I am the servant 
of this movement, and I will be, God helping me, to the day 
of my death. But I stand here also as a trophy of this tem- 
perance movement. Last November I had spoken in the 
City Hall of Glasgow to twenty-five hundred people. I was 
staying at the house of one of the merchant-princes of that 
city, and, when we came down-stairs his carriage was at the 
door, silver-mounted harness, coachman in livery, footman in 
plain clothes. You know it is seldom teetotal lecturers ride 
in such style, and it is proper therefore that we should 
speak of it when it does happen for the good of the cause. 

2. As we came down the gentleman said to me: "It is 
so drizzly and cold you had better get into the carriage and 
wait until the ladies come down." I think I never had so 
many persons to shake hands with me. 

"God bless you, Mr. Gough !" said one ; "you saved my 

father." 

"God bless you!" said another; "you saved my brother." 
Said a third, "God bless you ! I owe everything I have in 

the world to you." 

3. My hands absolutely ached as they grasped them one 
after another. Finally, a poor wretched creature came to 
the door of the carriage. I saw his bare shoulder and naked 

487 



488 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

feet; his hair seemed grayer than mine. He came up and 
said : 

"Will you shake hands with me?" 

I put my hand into his hot, burning palm, and he said : 

"Don't you know me?" 

"Why," said I, "isn't your name Aiken?" 

"Yes." 

"Harry Aiken?" > 

"Yes." 

"You worked with me in the bookbinder's shop of Andrew 
Hutchinson, in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1842, didn't 
you?" 

"Yes." 

"What is the matter with you?" 

"I am desperately poor." 

I said, "God pity you ; you look like it !" 

I gave him something and obtained the services of Mr. 
Marr, the secretary of the Scottish League, to find out 
about him. He picks up rags and bones in the streets of 
Glasgow and resides in a kennel in one of the foulest streets 
of that city. When the ladies came to the carriage and 
got in I said: 

"Stop ! don't shut that door ! Look there at that starved, 
ragged, miserable wretch, shivering in the cold and in the 
dim gaslight. Look at him!" 

4. The ring of that audience was in my ears, my hands 
aching with the grasp of friendship from scores, my sur- 
roundings, bright, my prospects pleasant, and I said: 

"Ladies, look there ! There am I but for the temperance 
movement! That man worked with me, roomed with me, 
slept with me, was a better workman than I, his prospects 
brighter than mine. A kind hand was laid on my shoulder 
in Worcester Street in 1842 ; it was the turning point in 
my history. He went on. Seventeen years have passed and 
we meet again with a gulf as deep as hell between us." . . . 



Public Lecture 489 

5. I said, when* I began, that I was a trophy of this 
movement, and therefore the principal part of my work has 
been (not ignoring other parts) in behalf of those who have 
suffered as I have suffered. You know there is a great deal 
said about the reckless victims of this foe being "brutes." 
No, they are not brutes. I have labored for eighteen years 
among them and I have never found a brute. I have had 
men swear at me; I have had a man dance around me as 
if possessed of a devil and spit his foam in my face; but I 
never found a man I would give up. It may take a long 
time to reach his manhood; but he is not a brute. I think 
it is Charles Dickens who says, "Away up a great many 
pair of stairs, in a very remote corner, easily passed by, 
there is a door, and on that door is written — 'Woman ;' ' 
and so in the heart of the vilest outcast, away up a great 
many pair of stairs, in a very remote corner, easily passed 
by, there is a door on which is written "Man." Here is our 
business, — to find that door. It may take a long time; but 
begin and knock. Don't get tired ; but remember God's 
long-suffering to us and keep knocking a long time if need 
be. Don't get weary if there is no answer; remember him 
whose locks were wet with the dew. Knock on; just try it; 
you try it; and just so sure as you do, just so sure, by and 
by, will the quivering lip and starting tear tell you you 
have been knocking at the heart of a man and not of a brute. 
It is because these poor wretches are men, and not brutes, 
that we have hopes of them. 

*Jft yfc 7J7 fljf 7|C 3|P »(? 

6. I tell you it is a glorious work to get at these hearts ; 
it is a glorious work to play upon a man ; to play upon him 
until you make him sing, — ay, and sing sweet music, too. 

7. A man came to me at Covent Garden, summer before 
last, and said, "Mr. Gough, I want you to come into my 
place of business." I went. "God bless you, sir!" said he. 

"What for? — have I ever seen you before?" 

"I heard you, sir," he said, "in Exeter Hall, in 1853. I 



490 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

was a brute!" 

"No, you were not." 

"Well, I was worse." 

"No, you were not." 

"Well, I was as bad as ever I could be." 

Then he told me some sad things and went on : 

"God bless you, sir! See what a business I am doing! 
Look here! See that woman in the corner: it is my wife. 
La ! how I have knocked her about. Would you go and shake 
hands with her?" 

"I have no objection." 

"Do, sir." 

I went up to her and offered my hand. She held back 
and said, "My fingers are so sticky with fruit, sir!" 

"La!" said the husband; "Mr. Gough, you don't mind a 
little sticky fingers?" 

"No, sir," — and I shook hands with her. Our fingers 
stuck together : they were more sticky than I had expected. 
Again the man said to me, 

"God bless you, sir! I wish I could give you something. 
Do you like oranges?" 

"Sometimes." 

8. He went to a shelf that was full of them and began to 
fill a bag with them. "That's enough, sir," but he paid no 
attention to me, but filled the bag and put it into my arms. 
"Go along with you !" said he ; "don't say a word ; go along 
with you! God bless_you!" I had positively to hire a cab 
to get home. 

9. Perhaps you are getting tired of these incidents ; but 
there is one more of which I would like to speak to you, 
because it shows that we who work among the hardest and 
vilest outcasts are repaid by the fact that we are working 
for men. I was to speak in a certain place, and a poor fellow 
came with what is called a "fly," — that is, a one-horse cab, 
— to take me some six miles to the railway station where I 
was to speak. I noticed that he was leaning forward, and 



Public Lecture 491 

then took a handkerchief out of his pocket and tied it around 
his face. I said: "Have you a cold?" 

"No." 

Then he tied the handkerchief up this way. 

"Have you the toothache?" 

"No." 

He seemed to lean forward and sit so uneasily that I said 
to him, "Why do you sit forward in that way?" 

"Why, sir," he said, "the window of the carriage is broken 
and I am trying to keep the wind off of you, sir." 

"The Lord bless you, my friend ! what do you mean by 
that? Are you putting your head in that hole to keep the 
wind from me?" 

"Yes, sir, I am." 

"And why?" 

10. He burst into tears : "It's because I owe everything 
I have in the world to you. When I first heard you I was 
singing ballads in the streets with my half-starved wife fol- 
lowing me with a baby in her arms. Now I have a comfort- 
able home. God bless you, sir ! I'd stick my head in any hole 

under heaven for you." 
******* 

11. The past is ever before me; the past is to me one 
perpetual photograph that will never fade out; that grows 
more and more distinct the longer I live. The fire that 
scorched me in the distance seems to burn brighter, the iron 
that entered my flesh seems to be sharper the further I re- 
move from it. For the love I bear the temperance movement 
I take no credit to myself. The temperance movement has 
made me what I am, if I am anything, if I am worth any- 
thing in this world; and for the temperance movement I 
mean to work to the day of my death. And I pray you that 
when I die I may die in the harness. I come back to you 
here. I see your young men plunged in dissipation. Oh, it 
is pitiful to go through the streets as I have in Boston to- 
day and see boldly and openly displayed the signs that tell 



492 Oral Reading and Public Speaking 

us of the dreadful, horrible traffic that is carried on in spite 
of the will of the people. Who are these few men that dare 
to ignore the expressed will of the people? Who are they 
that dare to fill the lower parts of your city with the hor- 
rible stench of the accursed distillery? Who are they that 
dare do this when the people say they shall not? Up, up, 
up, men of Boston! Crush it out! You can do it! Can? 
Some people say it is impossible. A great many begin and 
end all their effort by saying it is impossible. Do you re- 
member the incident that occurred when Mr. Webster de- 
livered his great oration at the foot of Bunker Hill monu- 
ment? The crowd was pressing up on all sides toward the 
platform, and the committee said "Gentlemen, stand back." 
"We can't," said the crowd, and they never attempted it. 
They continued to press up. The platform began to crack, 
endangering life and limb. "Stand back." 

"We can't stand back," said the people and made no 
effort. 

Mr. Webster rose to his feet and said, "Gentlemen, you 
must stand back." 

12. "Mr. Webster, it is impossible to stand back." 

"Impossible?" said Webster, "On Bunker Hill nothing is 
impossible," and down the hill they went. They felt they 
could and they did. Impossible! It is not our business to 
create results; we can not create results, but it is our busi- 
ness to work for results ; and the highest position a man can 
occupy in this world is to stand as a machine, connected 
with his Maker by a band of loving faith, — God the motor- 
power, and man the machine. That is your business, — 
working where He will, when He will, as He will. No mat- 
ter if you don't see a dramshop closed; that is not your 
business; work as if your next blow was to dash to pieces 
the Moloch of drunkenness ; and if no results are visible till 
you lie down to die, die in faith that others are coming up 
to gather a full harvest on the field that you have planted 
and tended and prayed over, but have not been able to reap. 



INDEX 



abbott, lyman, quoted, 268; Free 
Speech, 418. 

addams, jake, definition of cul- 
ture, 18. 

addison, Joseph, quotation, 114. 

Address, short, examples, 463-467. 

Admiration, ex., 142. 

Adoration, ex., 143. 

After-dinner speech, 256; ex., 468- 
476. 

Air, amount in lungs, 29. 

Analogy, 279. 

Anger, ex., 145. 

Anniversary Address, ex., 473. 

Argument, definition, 278. 

Art of Eloquence, Cicero, 415. 

Aspirate tones, definition, 35; cor- 
rected, 40. 

Atmosphere, definition, 135; kinds, 
135. 

Atonies, definition, 46. 

Audience, The, 184; attributes of, 
185-187; kinds of, 189; purpose 
of, 189; quality of, 190; size of, 
190. 

Await the Issue, Carlyle, 444. 

Awe, ex., 145. 

bacon, francis, Essays of Studies, 
116. 

bailey, philip j., quotation, 86. 

Ballad of the Trees and the Mas- 
ter, A, Lanier, 383. 

bangs, John k., When Spring 
Comes, 354. 

barbould, anna l., Life, 391. 

BEE CHER, HENRY WARD, quotation, 

79; quoted, 216, 250. 

BEVERIDGE, ALBERT J., quoted, 196, 

208. 
Bible, quotation, 57, 77, 86, 94, 98, 
111, 120, 132, 200, 203; Parable 
of the Two Sons, 407; Defense 
Before Agrippa, 441. 



Bird Thoughts, Author unknown, 

88. 
bourdillon, francis, quotation, 

110. 
brackett, anna c, The Desert, 87. 
Break, Break, Break, Tennyson, 

319. 
Breathing, definition, 27; deep, 

30; exercises in, 31. 
bridges, Madeline s., Life's Mirror, 

390. 
brooks, edward, quotation, 138. 
brooks, phtllips, The Evil That 

Men Do Lives After Them, 453. 
browning, Robert, quotation, 85, 

109; How They Brought the 

Good News from Ghent, 116; 

Pippa Passes, 143; Home 

Thoughts from Abroad, 301; An 

Incident of the French Camp, 

332. 
Brutus on the Death of Lucretia, 

Payne, 342. 
Brutus' Quarrel with Cassius, 

Shakespeare, 399. 
bryan, william j., Imperialism, 

458. 
bryant, william c, To a Water- 

fowl, 92; Thanantopsis, 131. 
Buckingham, lord, quotation, 105. 
Bugle Song, The, Tennyson, 299. 
burke, edmund, quotation, 128; 

Impeachment of Warren Hast- 
ings, 430. 
burns, robert, quotation, 73, 79; 

To a Louse, 149; For A' That 

and A' That, 363. 
byers, sir john, quoted, 177. 
byron, lord, quotation, 94; Latest 

Verses, 142; Darkness, 149. 

Calf-Path, The, Foss, 309. 
campbell, thomas, Hohenlinden, 
112. 



493 



494 



Index 



carew, THOMAS, Disdain Returned, 

148. 
carlyle, thomas, quotation, 57, 

116; Await the Issue, 444. 
carpenter, b. f., quotation, 89. 

CARRUTH, WILLIAM H., Each 111 His 

Own Tongue, 386. 
cart, alice, Pictures of Memory, 

Catiline's Reply, Croley, 339. 

CHANNING, WILLIAM E., quotation, 

98; quoted, 264. 
Charge of the Light Brigade at 

Balaklava, Tennyson, 334. 
cicero, quoted, 146; quotation, 151, 

200; The Art of Eloquence, 415. 
clark, s. h., quoted, 18. 
Clavicular breathing, 28. 
clay, henry, quoted, 171. 
Climax, definition, 128; examples, 

128. 
cobb, m. n., The World Would Be 

Better for It, 76. 
coleridge, h., She is Not Fair to 

Outward View, 99. 
Columbus, Miller, 325. 
Compass, definition, 64. 
Conclusion to Speech, 271. 
Confucius, quotation, 151. 

COOKE, EDMUND VANCE, HOW Did 

You Die? 350. 

coolbrith, in a, quotation, 69. 

Co-ordination, respiratory, 29. 

Consonant elements, table of, 48. 

Consonants, definition, 46. 

corson, hiram, quoted, 17, 163, 
219. 

Countryman and the Lawyer, 375. 

Courage, ex., 143. 

Cowardice, ex., 144. 

croley, george, Catiline's Defiance, 
145; Catiline's Reply, 339. 

Crossing the Bar, Tennyson, 158. 

Cultural Value of Oral English, 
18. 

curran, john p., reference to, 21; 
quotation, 128. 

curtis, george w., Duty of Edu- 
cated Men, 76. 



Daffodils, The, Wordsworth, 312. 
Debating, definition, 276; ethics in, 
289-290; delivery in, 287. 



de l'isle, rouget, The Marseilles 

Hymn, 138. 
Delivery, styles of, 218-222. 
Defense before Agrippa, Paul, 

441. 
Defiance, ex., 145. 
defoe, daniel, quotation, 132. 
demosthenes, reference to, 21; On 

The Crown, 77. 

DERZHAVEN, G. R., God, 143. 

Despair, ex., 144. 
desprez, f., Lasca, 117. 
Diaphragmatic breathing, 28. 
dickens, charles, quotation, 73, 

85, 94; Death of Little Joe, 150. 
Diction, 169. 
Dilemma, 284. 
Diphthongs, table of, 47. 
Directions for Written Report, 

155; specific illustrations, 158. 
Disgust, ex., 143. 
dobson, Austin, A Fancy from 

Frontenelle, 379. 
dowden, edward, quoted, 19. 
dunbar, paul l., When the Co'n 

Pone's Hot, 369. 

Each in His Own Tongue, Car- 
ruth, 386. 

Earnestness in delivery, 223. 

Educational Value of Oral Eng- 
lish, 17. 

Elementary sounds, 46; table, 47. 

eliot, charles w., quoted, 167. 

EMERSON, RALPH WALDO, quotation, 

76, 111; quoted, 193, 216; The 
Poet, 151. 

emmett, Robert, Emmett's De- 
fense, 438. 

Emmett's Defense, Emmet, 438. 

Emotional Value of Oral English, 
17. 

Emotions, table of, 139-140. 

Emphasis, definition, 122; methods 
of, 123; rules for, 125-128; cau- 
tions, 129; exercises in, 130-134. 

Enunciation, defined, 46; distinc- 
tions in, 49; exercises in, 52-58. 

Essay, defined, 248; examples, 401- 
421. 

Eulogy, 254. 

Eulogy of Henry Grady, Graves, 
456. . 

Evening Bells, Moore, 378. 



Index 



495 



everett, edward, quotation, 57. 

Evidence, denned, 277. 

Evil That Men Do Lives After 
Them, The, Brooks, -453. 

Excelsior, Longfellow^ 327. 

Extempore speaking, 265-275; sug- 
gested subjects, 273-275. 

Fallacy, denned, 281. 

Fall of Assyria, Isaiah, 451. 

Falsetto tone, defined, 35. 

Fancy from Frontenelle, A, Dob- 
son, 379. 

field, etjgene, Little Boy Blue, 67, 
111, 315. 

Field of Conflict, Rippy, 480. 

fisher, stokely, The Poem, 297. 

For A' That and A' That, Burns, 
363. 

Force, defined, 90. 

foss, sam w., The House by the 
Side of the Road, 120, 330; The 
Calf-Path, 309. 

fox, charles, quoted, 171. 

Freedom or Slavery, Henry, 447. 

Free Speech, Abbott, 418. 

Generalization, 279. 

Gesture, defined, 228; universality 
of, 230; classification of, 232- 
236; general principles of, 237, 
238; mechanics of, 238, 239; 
platform, 240-244; exercises, 244- 
247. 

Gettysburg Address, Lincoln, 475. 

GILLESPY, JEANETTE B., The Poet, 

132. 
Glottis, defined, 25. 
God Give Us Men, Holland, 384. 
gough, johx b., quotation, 93; 

Temperance Address, 487. 
grady, henry w., quotation, 96, 

121, 293. 
Greed, ex., 145. 
grattan, henry, quotation, 73, 

103; Invective Against Corry, 

100. 
graves, john temple, quotation, 

74; Eulogy of Henry Grady, 

456. 
Guttural tones, defined, 35; cor- 
rected, 40. 

Hamlet's Soliloquy, Shakespeare, 
393. 



Hamlet's Grief, Shakespeare, 394. 
Happiness, ex., 142. 
Hate, ex., 143. 

HAWTHORNE, NATHANIEL, quota- 
tion, 92, 121; My Oratorical Ex- 
perience, 404. 

hay, john, Jim Bhidso, 366. 

Height of the Ridiculous, The, 
Holmes, 361. 

heine, heinrich, quotation, 113. 

henry, Patrick, quotation, 101. 

HIGGINSON, THOMAS W., quoted, 

221, 271. 
Holland, joseph g., God Give Us 

Men, 384. 
holmes, Oliver w., Urania, 58; The 

Last Leaf, 121, 358; The Height 

of the Ridiculous, 361. 
Home of van Tassel, The, Irving, 

401. 
Home Thoughts from Abroad, 

Browning, 301. 
hood, thomas, quotation, 201; The 

Bridge of Sighs, 143. 
hooper, ella s., quotation, 68. 
Hope, ex., 144. 
House by the Side of the Road, 

The, Foss, 330. 
How Did You Die? Cooke, 350. 

HUBBARD, ELBERT, A Message to 

Garcia, 465. 
hugo, victor, Jean Valjean, 92. 
Humor, sense of, 215; kinds, 215. 
Hyoid bone, use of, 25. 



Imagination of Speaker, 213. 
Impeachment of Warren Hast- 
ings, Burke, 420. 
Imperialism, Bryan, 458. 
Inaugural Address, Wilson, 477. 
Incident of the French Camp, An, 

Browning, 332. 
Inflection, defined, 64; kinds, 72; 

general law, 72; rules, 73, 80. 
ingersoll, Robert g., quotation, 74; 

Happiness and Liberty, 245; 

A Plumed Knight, 461 ; A Vision 

of War, 473. 
ingham, rena, Then and Now, 88. 
Intensity, defined, 94; degrees of, 

97; exercises in, 97-103. 
Interpretation of Literature, vocal, 

153. 



496 



Index 



irving, Washington, The Home of 

van Tassel, 401. 
Issues in debating, 285. 

Jaw, exercises for, 38. 
Jealousy, ex., 145. 
jerrold, d. w., quotation, 117. 
Jim Bludso, Hay, 366. 

IRVING, WASHINGTON, Sketch Book, 

58. 
Judges in delivery, 288. 
Jury Address, Webster, 434. 

keats, john, quotation, 110. 
kellogg, Elijah, Sparticus to the 

Gladiators, 78, 138. 
Key, denned, 64; exercises, 69-71. 
king, byron, story about, 21. 
King Henry to His Soldiers, 

Shakespeare, 397. 
kipling, rudyard, The Recessional, 

323; L'Envoi, 356. 
kiser, s. e., The Idler, 114. 
kleiser, g., quotation, 150. 
Knowledge, of orator, 168. 
knowles, james s., Tell to His 

Native Hills, 142. 

Labials, 47. 

lamb, chas., The Old Familiar 
Faces, 149. 

landon, melville, A Texan's Rov- 
ing s, 410. 

lanier, Sidney, A Ballad of the 
Trees and the Master, 383. 

Larynx, cut of, 24. 

Last Leaf, The, Holmes, 358. 

Lead, Kindly Light, Newman, 302. 

Lecture, popular, 258; ex., 487- 
492. 

Leedle Dutch Baby, Riley, 371. 

Length of Speech, proper, 176. 

L'Envoi, Kipling, 356. 

Life, Barbauld, 391. 

Life's Mirror, Bridges, 390. 

Lincoln, Abraham, Gettysburg 
Address, 475. 

Linguals, 47, 

Lips, exercises for, 38. 

Literature, denned, 16. 

Literary Value of Oral English, 
16. 

Lisping, 42. 



Little Boy Blue, Field, 315. 
London Atlas, quoted, 131. 

LONGFELLOW, HENRY W., quotation, 

68; Psalm of Life, 17; The Day 
is Done, 86; The Building of the 
Ship, 94; Paul Revere's Ride, 
113; The Arrow and the Song, 
133; The Rainy Day, 144; Ex- 
celsior, 327; The Rainy Day, 
382. 

Lost Chord, The, Proctor, 380. 

lover, samuel, The Low-backed 
Car, 373. 

Low-Backed Car, The, Lover, 373. 

lowell, james r., quotation, 75; 
The First Snow Fall, 71; Auf 
Wiedersehen, 115; Vision of Sir 
Launfal, 142. 

lowell, Robert, The Relief of 
Lucknow, 101. 

Lucy, Wordsworth, 385. 

Lungs, function of, 30. 

LUTHER, MARTIN, quoted, 20. 

lytton, lord bulwer, quotation, 
85; Last Days of Pompeii, 143. 



macaulay, thomas, quotation, 206 ; 
The Battle of Ivry, 70. 

mackey, charles, quotation, 110. 

mara, madam, referred to, 26. 

Mark Antony's Speech, Shakes- 
peare, 424. 

mathews, w., quoted, 224, 226. 

Melody, denned, 64; exercises, 64; 
Faults in speech, 82. 

Memory, rules for, 212, 213. 

Mercy, Shakespeare, 378. 

Message to Garcia, A, Hubbard, 
465. 

miller, c. h., Columbus, 325. 

milton, john, On His Blindness, 
58; quotation, 79; L' Allegro, 
116; Comus, 150. 

mitchell, agnes e., When the 
Cows Come Home, 151. 

Monotone, general, 82. 

moore, tom, Evening Bells, 378. 

Mothers of Men, The, Miller, 352. 

Movement, denned, 106. 

myers, f. w., Last Appeal, 144. 

My Oratorical Experience, Haw- 
thorne, 404. 

My Shadow, Stevenson, 314. 



Index 



497 



Nasal tones, defined, 36; corrected, 

39. 
Nasals, 47. 
nella, m. e., Recompense. 400. 

NEWMAN, JOHN HENRY, Lead, 

Kindly Light, 302. 
Normal tones, defined, 35. 

O Captain! My Captain! Whit- 
man, 321. 

Old Feather Bed, Pfrimmer, 388. 

Oral English, defined, 15. 

Oral Reading, defined, 15. 

Oral tones, defined, 35. 

Oration, defined, 249; subjects for, 
251; classification of, 253-260; 
contest, 257; examples, 423-462. 

Orator, attributes of, 209-218. 

Orotund, tones, defined, 35. 

Osborne, George, The Miser Fitly- 
Punished, 145. 

Outline for a speech, 174, 195. 

Palatals, 47. 

Parable of the Two Sons, St. 
Luke, 407. 

Joseph, parker, quoted, 224. 

patten, g. w., The Seminole's De- 
fiance, 345. 

patton, f. l., quoted, 193. 

Pause, defined, 108. 

payne, john h., Brutus on the 
Death of Lucretia, 342. 

peabody, Josephine, The House 
and the Road, 71. 

Pectoral tones, defined, 35. 

penn, william, quotation, 73. 

percival, james, g., Polish War 
Song, 103, 337. 

Personal magnetism, 223. 

PFRIMMER, WILLIAM W., Appear- 

ences Don't Govern, 115; The 
Old Feather Bed, 388. 
phelps, j. w., quotation, 149. 

PHILLIPS, WENDELL, Eulogy On 

O'Connell, 129. 
Phonology, defined, 23. 
Physical Expression, 228-247. 
pierpont, john, Warren's Address, 

104; My Child, 114. 
Pitch, defined, 23, 64; change in, 

80; examples, 81. 
Pity, example, 143. 
plato, quotation, 115. 



Plumed Knight, A, Ingersoll, 461. 
poe, edgar, The Bells, 42; Annabel 

Lee; 112; William Wilson, 145; 

The Haunted and the Haunters, 

246. 
Poem, The, Fisher, 297. 
Poetry, suggestions as to reading, 

119.' 
Polish War Song, Percival, 337. 
Political Speech, 225. 
pope, Alexander, quotation, 85, 

110. 

PRENTICE, GEORGE D., The Closing 

Year, 71. 

PRENTISS, SARGENT S., quoted, 171. 
PROCTOR, ADELAIDE A., The Lost 

Chord, 380. 

proctor, edna d., The Brooklyn 
Bridge, 246. 

Pronunciation, defined, 46; correc- 
tion of, 51; exercises in, 52, 53, 
59-62. 

Proposition for debate, analysis 
of, 285. 

Public Speaking, defined, 15, 167. 

Quantity, defined, 112; cautions, 
113. 

Questions for debate, 292; tests 
for, 284. 

Questions and directions for writ- 
ten report, 155. 

Quick, Herbert, quoted, 255. 

quintilian, marcus, quoted, 265. 

Quality, defined, 112; 23, 134; ex- 
amples, 147. 

raht, carl g., 'S'Matter, 377. 

Rainy Day, The, Longfellow, 382. 

Rate, 106; cautions, 107; examples, 
114-117. 

read, thomas b., The Closing 
Scene, 71. 

Reasoning, inductively, 278; de- 
ductively, 280. 

Rebuttal, '286. 

Recessional, The, Kipling, 323. 

Recompense, Nella, 400. 

Refutation in debate, 280; special 
forms of, 283. 

Regret, ex., 144. 

Rhythm, defined, 106, 117. 

riley, james w., quotation, 99; 
Leedle Dutch Baby, 371. 



498 



Index 



rippy, james f., The Field of Con- 
flict, 480. 
roosevelt, theodore, quotation, 87. 

ROSSETTI, CHRISTINA G., Up-HUl, 

355. 
ruskin, john, quoted, 16, 147; 
quotation, 78; Work, 463. 

Sandpiper, The, Thaxter, 304. 
saunders, w. h., The Ocean Burial, 

150. 
Scorn, ex., 142. 
scott, sir Walter, quotation, 93; 

The Heart of Midlothian, 246. 
Seminole's Defiance, Patten, 345. 
Sentences, length of, 202. 
Seven Ages of Man, Shakespeare, 

396. 

SHAKESPEARE, WILLIAM, quotations, 

57, 67, 73, 85, 101, 105. 
Merchant of Venice, 58, 78, 148, 

149. 
Othello, 84, 91, 146, 149. 
Macbeth, 92, 137. 
Hamlet, 101, 131. 
Hamlet's Grief, 394. 
Hamlet's Soliloquy, 393. 
King John, 102. 

King Henry to His Soldiers, 397. 
Julius Caesar, 113, 143, 148. 
Henry V., 104. 
Henry VIII., 115, 144. 
All's Well That Ends Well, 137. 
Polonius' Advise to His Son, 395. 
Seven Ages of Man, 396. 
Wolsey's Advise to Cromwell, 

396. 
Mercy, 398. 
Brutus' Quarrel with Cassius, 

399. 
Speech of Brutus, 422. 
Mark Antony's Speech, 424. 
sheppard, charles, quotation, 103. 

SHERIDAN, RICHARD B., The Rivals, 

144. 
sherley, douglass, The Buzz-Saw 

Girl, 117. 
Slide, denned, 64. 
'S'Matter, Raht, 377. 
Social Value of Oral English, 19. 
Song of the Camp, The, Taylor, 

306. 
Sorrow, ex., 142. 
Sound, denned, 123. 



southey, Robert, Cataract of Lo- 

dore, 32. 
Speech, material for, 193; propor- 
tion, 195; preparation of, 260; 

methods of delivery, 260-264. 
Speech of Brutus, Shakespeare, 

422. 
spurgeon, charles, quotation, 147. 
Stage-fright, 177. 
Stammering, 42. 

sterne, Laurence, quotation, 196. 
stevenson, Robert l., quotation, 

147; My Shadow, 94, 314. 
story, w. w., quotation, 120. 
Stress, denned, 102; exercises, 102- 

105. 
Style, attributes of, 194; qualities 

of, 195-205. 
Subject for speech, 172, 180, 181. 
Subtonics, defined, 46. 
Sunday, rev. billy, quoted, 196, 

201. 
Swabodian principles of muscular 

development, 21. 
Sioord of Robert Lee, The, Ryan, 

348. 
Syllogism, 280. 
Synonyms, study of, 181-183. 

tagore, r., quotation, 151. 

taylor, bayard, The Song of the 
Camp, 306. 

taylor, f., The Isle of Long Ago, 
112. 

Tears, Idle Tears, Tennyson, 317. 

Temperance Address, Gough, 487. 

tennyson, alfred, quotation, 57, 
69, 99, 114. 
The Princess 98; Lady Clare, 
144; Bugle Song, 98, 299; The 
May Queen, 98; Enoch Arden, 
102; The Brook, 113, 118; The 
Revenge, 129; Tears, Idle Tears, 
317; Break, Break, Break, 319; 
The Charge of the Light Bri- 
gade, 334. 

Testimony, defined, 277; tests, 277. 

Texan's Rovings, A, Landon, 410. 

thaxter, celia, The Sandpiper, 
304. 

Thought analysis, 154. 

tillman, b. r., quoted, 267. 

Tone-color, defined, 138; examples 
of, 142-146. 



Index 



499 



Tone, pure, examples for practice, 
33; defined, 35; impure, defined, 
35; projection, 41. 

Tongue, use of, 25; exercises for, 
38. 

Tonics, defined, 46. 

Transition, defined, 110. 

trowbridge, johk t., The Vaga- 
bonds, 105. 

True Eloquence, Webster, 413. 

twain, mark, quotation, 198. 

Typical Dutchman, The, Van 
Dyke, 468. 

Up-hill, Rossetti, 355. 
Uvula, use of, 25. 

van dyke, henry, The Typical 
Dutchman, 468. 

Vision of War, A, Ingersoll, 473. 

Vocabulary, 169. 

Vocal culture, exercises in, 31; de- 
fined, 35. 

Vocational Value of Oral English, 
20. 

Voice, compared to reed-pipe, 23, 
25; technique of, 24; control of, 
27; cultivation of, 36; placing, 
41; care of, 43; qualities of, 136, 
137; of orator, 210-212. 

Volume, defined, 23, 93; exercises, 
93. 



Vowel elements, table of, 48. 
Vowels, defined, 46. 

warner, c. d., quotation, 207. 

webster, daniel, quoted, 22, 209; 
quotation, 73, 86, 104, 137, 206; 
Bunker Hill Oration, 71; The 
White Murder Trial, 245; True 
Eloquence, 413; Jury Address, 
434. 

WHATLEY, ARCHBISHOP, quoted, 219. 

whitman, walt, O Captain! My 
Captain! 321. 

When Spring Comes, Bangs, 354. 

When the Co'n Pone's Hot, Dun- 
bar, 369. 

whittier, john g., Snowbound, 
121. 

wilcox, ella wheeler, quotation, 
98; If I were a Young Man, 70. 

willis, Nathaniel, The Leper, 246. 

wilson, hon. woodrow, Inaugural 
Address, 477. 

wolfe, charles, quotation, The 
Burial of Sir John Moore, 98, 
118. 

Wolsey's Advice to Cromwell, 396. 

Word-coloring, defined, 140. 

wordsworth, william, The Daffo- 
dils, 312; Lucy, 385. 

Work, Ruskin, 463. 

Writing a speech, 174. 



. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

ill 

021 100 557 9 



ionralHi 



' ■' .• HS£ 

■BH 

■JBHB 
■•:T. ■:.■••: ■»: 
:.•■■•■■■:'..... 

■ - . . ,•■■:•■,■■:.■ I 



WgBStem 



m 



